Breaking Space
by HcHaiku
Summary: A transport mission takes a turn for the worst after an attack by an enemy ship a lone pilot crash lands and finds himself on a strange unidentified planet similar to Earth, but different in more ways than one.  Story going though a little revamping
1. Chapter 1

**Breaking Space**

**Chapter 1: Unfortunate circumstances **

"Do you ever get tired of it John?"

"Of what Mark?"

"You know, being out here doing what we do. Fighting the good fight, ever think it's just pointless?"

John looked out the window into the endless void of space. "Not for a damn second, why are you telling me this? The last person I'd think of calling this war pointless is you after what they did to us."

"You remember when we first joined the space force before the draft? There were four of us back then: you, me, Jed, and Will. I was just thinking about those two... Wish they were still here, I miss 'em you know?"

John gave a big sigh. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I miss them too but we can't slum around in the past thinking about the fallen. It makes this job that much harder."

"Yeah well I can't help it and I don't mean to sound like a pussy or anything but I just don't want to lose you. You're the only man in the whole universe I respect and see as a brother and if you ever died I don't know what I'd do. I might just actually lose it."

"Same here Mark, I see you as the brother I never had. We knew each other since we were kids and I-" "Hey captain, is this the gayest thing you ever heard in your life or what?"

Chuckling filled the communications channel.

"Well Cole, don't ask don't tell. That's how the saying goes, hehe."

John face palmed. "Dammit Mark, learn how to fucking turn off com before you start talking your damn heart out, and fuck you Cole! You asshole!"

Outright laughter now filled the communications channel.

"Damn Mark y'all should jus' divorce yer wife and marry John here. I think y'all would be mighty happy together, and ah'll be glad to take the misses off yer hands!"

"God dammit, Allegiance shut down the com channel I don't want to hear these asses. Especially you Gale!"

The artificial intelligent awakened from sleep mode. "Of course lieutenant Crosswind."

"HA y'all pussy bast-"

"communications offline lieutenant."

"Thank you allegiance. Mark, you're a dumb ass you know that?"

Mark shrugged and gave a grin. "Whatever! Heh, anything to make this transport mission a bit less stale."

John gave him a bewildered stare until he realized "You're telling me you knew it was on?"

"Yep, and thanks man. I'm glad you care." He put his hand on Johns shoulder.

"Where the fuck is that eject button?"

"Hey, not again you ass! Can't you take a joke? Besides this isn't a standard fighter ship It's a new prototype it's missing basic escape methods besides the hyperspace pods."

Trying not to strangle his best friend, John switched the subject. "So what the hell do you know about this ship other than that?"

"Well it's supposed to be the best ship to come from Earth called he 'AS4 Dragon breath.' It's up to par, if not better then anything the R.E.D has in their entire fleet. It already has the latest tech, revolutionized shielding system, it can jump to hyperspace in 10 seconds flat, the fission core is basically a miniaturized version of the ones in those huge battle cruisers with 18.2% amount of power, and that power can be converted into other sections of the ship. It can even be kicked into overdrive for extra amounts of power, but that might cause the ship's core to go nuclear at take out 94 miles of space or rock. Hehe, also it's got the AI which you already met, it cuts the work by 50% percent. A shit ton of other things too. Especially weapons, but half of them aren't installed at the moment.

"Well fuck you sound like you designed the damn thing yourself."

"Ha! Nahh, Sarah wouldn't stop talking about it everyday when she got back form the U.N.S engineering science facility."

John smiled. "How is your wife and daughter anyway? Are they doing okay?"

"They're great! Sarah couldn't be happier, especially since she was given a vacation after the making of this baby and Melissa is doing great! Top scores in her class, but not much for grade school. Heh, but I'm still proud of my baby girl."

"That's good. Allegiance how much longer until we reach the U.N.S testing facility?"

"Two hours lieutenant"

John huffed "Fucking hell, what this thing needs is an entertainment system. Don't they know how boring it gets out here? Why the hell did the R.E.D activity have to be near this area? We could have gone into hyperspace and came back here in 3 hours ago!"

"Well, at least you got your best buddy here to talk to when you get bored-" "Unidentified hyperspace lane incoming, unidentified hyperspace lane incoming."

"What the hell? John, open the com channel!"

"On it."

"Well looky who came back now-"

"I don't have time for your shit Gale! Captain, something is coming out of hyperspace onto our position."

The captain took a stern and commanding tone. "Into Formation men. I want everyone to stay alert and- Oh my god."

At that moment a battle cruiser appeared from hyperspace and began to charge its weapons.

"REDs! They knew we where here!"

"No time to sit here and wonder, EVASIVE ACTION!"

Hail of beams extended from the battle cruisers cannons. The four pilots went into evasive action and successfully dodged the incoming fire, since the main guns were too slow to hit the small fast moving ships. The cruiser began to unleash swarms of enemy drones.

"If we stay here for any longer we're gonna end up as space debris!"

"Gale, Cole; initiate hyperspace and contact the fucking base! Tell them the R.E.D are here. We'll follow close behind. John, Mark; you and me are covering these boys. Let's put that prototype to work."

In unison they responded. "yes sir!"

"Thirty seconds 'til launch sir."

"Mark, fly the ship. I'll get into the turret and fuck some of these drones up."

"You got it John!"

John began to reek havoc upon the drone ships, launching missile after missile and a flurry of plasma beams straight at them. "Holy shit this thing really is as good as Mark says."

Mark avoided a mass amount of beams, but a few still managed to hit the hull of the ship. He was multitasking on covering the men, dodging enemy fire, and beating John in drone kills.

"Common Johnny I'm up to 68 I'm not hearing many explosions coming from the back there."

"Fuck you, these little shits are fast as hell!"

"Those just sound like excuuuuuuseeesss," Mark began in a antagonizing tone.

"3,2,1 we're off sir!"

"Good, now John, Mark; you're up!"

"Negative sir, you go. No offense, but that ship wont be able to cover us even with the 10 second hyperspace jump time. We'll cover you and send 50% of the power to the shields, that ought to give us enough time and power to make the jump."

With a steeled tone the captain said "None taken. The life of a good soldier is much more important to the U.N.S than any prototype weapon or ship, but you know what you have to do if you get caught right?"

In unison they stated "Overload the fission core and escape in the pods, sir!"

"And if the pods are damaged and are unable to transport you?"

"Then it was a honor to fight for the U.N.S and you sir!"

"Good, now keep my ass from burning in deep space for 30 seconds!"

"Sir yes Sir!"

The battle cruiser now began to fire, hitting drones as the beams came raining down onto their position.

John shouted to the front of the ship. "Block that fire Mark!"

The ship moved onto the targeted ship's upper position and took the full force of the cruisers fire.

Allegiance spoke as an alarm sounded on the ship. "Shields at 78%."

"Thanks boys, that cannon fire would have roasted me. Twenty seconds left, keep at it!"

"You heard him 20 more seconds. Attract the battle cruisers fire!"

The AS4 Dragon breath's maneuverable skill was amazing. It dodged, attacked, and handled incredibly well, but it still wasn't fast enough to dodge all the on coming cannon fire causing direct hits to the hull.

Allegiance continued counting the shields power. "Shields at 75%, 71%, 64%, 60%"

John shouted again. "Dammit Mark, concentrate!"

"You try dodging at least 100 of these 1000 of incoming beams. Just keep fucking firing!"

"10 seconds."

At that moment the Cruiser launched it's main Ion cannon.

"**Block that ion beam!**"

The ship rushed at great speed and managed to block the ion cannon fire but not without causing heavy damage on the ships shields.

"shields at 5%"

"Thank you boys, god speed!"

The fire didn't stop it continued to hit the battered ship.

John got off the turret and ran down the hallway to the bridge of the fighter ship and yelled out an order.

"Allegiance convert 50% of the power to the-"

The side of the ship was broken open by Drone fire, sending one of the pods into the vacuum of space and nearly dragging John along with it. He managed to grab hold of one of the many holes in the ships floor though.

"**Allegiance, cover that breach!**"

Allegiance activated the ships inner layer to cover the hull breach a double sided door closed and the hole was filled.

"Hull Breach mended, converting 50% of remaining power on ship shields, shields at 40% lieutenant."

Lights began to flicker and shut off, causing red ones to take their place as alarms began to signal low oxygen levels and damage. John ran to the bridge to find Mark putting on a suit.

"Here Grab one, low oxygen levels"

"Yeah I was there, but there's only one pod-"

A big crash was heard, causing Mark and John to hit the ceiling of the ship only thing that could be heard was Allegiance.

"Shield power at 0%, massive hull damage caused, emergency power and life support active 47% emergency power left immediate evacuation is highly advised."

The battle cruiser and drones stopped firing at the lone and battered ship.

"Fuck. Quick, put on the suit! We've got to hurry to the pods!"

They both ran to the escape pods while John was trying to tell Mark the unfortunate truth of what really happened.

"**Mark, there's only one escape pod left!**"

With a steeled expression Mark said "**I know! ** I heard allegiance announce it in the bridge, now hurry and get in there!"

**"Fuck you,** you get in there! What about your family!"

"I can't let you die dammit! You kept me and my family alive for all these years. Now its my turn to return the favor! **They're your family too!"**

Mark grabbed onto Johns shoulders with misty eyes. John knew he wasn't going to get Mark in there willingly and Mark was a lot stronger than he was physically. He wouldn't be able to force him in there.

With s shocked face John pulled Marks hands off him "Alright... Alright we both stay. Heh it's like what we said in training camp."

"Live together,-"

"-fight together,-"

"-die together."

The battle cruiser began to bring in the AS4 Dragon fire towards it via tractor beam.

"Okay Mark, go fly the ship. I'll overload the ship's core and cause a meltdown. We have to get really close to that cruiser though."

Mark began to walk to the bridge "Alright then, but tell me when your gonna do it, and get to the bridge fast too. I don't want to die without my best-."

Mark was hit by a blunt object from behind.

Standing over Mark was John with a pipe he'd found near the pod. Picking up Mark's unconscious body, he opened the hyperspace pod and placed him in before he began to punch in the coordinates to the nearest U.N.S station.

"Sorry Mark, your the best friend- no, brother a man could ever ask for, but I'm not having Sarah cry over her brother's and husband's empty coffins. Like hell I would put her though that."

With a sorrowful tone he looked at his brother and saluted him. "Good bye little bro," and the pod was launched and jumped into hyperspace soon after.

The ship was drawing ever so closer to the behemoth that was the R.E.D battle cruiser.

"Shit, my god damned luck." He was walking to the fission core room and started to punch in the self destruction code when he remembered something Mark had said. _"It can even be kicked into overdrive for extra amounts of power, but that might cause the ship's core to go nuclear at take out 94 miles of space or rock.__" _"Overdrive, that's it! Not enough power to cause the core to explode, but enough to regain shield power and activate the jump to hyperspace. **Yes**! Even if it doesn't work and the core goes nuclear I'll still accomplish one goal."

"Allegiance, send the core into overdrive!"

"ID specifications needed for confirmation and U.N.S records sir."

"Lieutenant John Crosswind, pilot of the U.N.S squadron 'wolf pack'. ID number 84938291819."

"ID confirmed, you have clearance to access ship information and procedures. Warning, overdrive is highly unadvised. It will increase core meltdown probability to 44%"

"Just do it!"

"Overdrive commencing..."

The ship quickly came back to life and everything was once again was running great, except for the hull damage. All that mattered was that he now has a chance to get the hell out of here and get back home.

"Ship Shielding: 130%, engine power: 130%, core meltdown probability: 44%"

"Fucking amazing!" John ran to the bridge and took control of the ship. Now it was just a waiting game, wait until the R.E.D. ship opened its hatch to bring in the ship. That's when they turn off the tractor beam and that's when John would take his chance.

"Come on, come on you RED sons of bitches. Open the hatch!"

The hatch began to open and as the tractor beam was shut off John set his plan into motion. "Initiating hyperspace jump! Allegiance pump more power to the trans-dimensional engines so we don't have to wait 10 fucking seconds!"

"Sir the probability for core meltdown will increase to 56%."

"Why do you keep telling me that? I'm not afraid of a goddamn meltdown. **Do it!**"

"Converting more power into engines. Destination sir?"

"Back the way we came Allegiance."

Immediately the engines began to roar and the hyperspace jump was initiated. White streaks of light began to surround the ship at it shot out in blinding speed into the void of space.

"Whew~ man, I swear I was gonna crap myself back there!"

"Indeed sir it was quite a frightful experience"

John gave a smirk. "Hey just call me John, Allegiance."

"Sir, that is against U.N.S protocol 121-B. Artificial intelligences may not use nicknames, pet names, or use any person's actual name under the employ of the U.N.S. Under any circumstances, only ranks and last names are permitted sir."

"Wow, okay then I'll just call you Al. Short for your name. good huh?"

"Sir that is against U.N.S protocol 134-C, any person under the emplo-" "Alright, alright already. Geez~, freaking tightwad."

"20 minutes until our destination is reached."

At that moment a big crash was heard at the back of the ship. "What the **fuck**? That things back? How the hell was it able to catch up with us!"

The R.E.D battle cruiser was back and it firing at him in hyperspace

"My fucking luck. Al evasive manuver-" another crash, the ship was getting hammered by the cruisers front cannons! "Fucking hell! Looks like were not gonna make it to the base... Al, pump the most amount of power you can to the trans-dimensional engines. We're breaking out of this space!"

"Sir it is extremely unadvised to exit a preset hyperspace lane. You could end up anywhere in the universe"

"Do it. It's better than being here, and deactivate the core when we exit!"

Soon the ships engines sparked and crackled. Then with an intense force it broke straight out of the hyper lane. John's ship was now floating in space with barely any power left. slowly rotating in the vast darkness with stars all around. "Holy shit, now that was nerve wracking huh Al?"

"Y..eszzzz...zzzirr *Buzz*."

"Oh fuck, Al! Hold on a sec'. If you can still hear me upload yourself into my suit." John connected his suit to the main computer from a wire that detached from his forearm. "Good thing mark found this high tech gear. Come on Al."

There was no sound. Al had gone with the last of the power the ship possessed. There was silence for a while until- "Hello Anyone out there it's dark I can't see a thing!"

"What? Al?" John looked around and found that the sound was emanating from the suit's helmet which was still in the locker where Mark found it.

"Al! **Ha,** I thought you went out with the ship!"

"My processing speed matches the most powerful computers known to the U.N.S a simple upload of my data is a mundane task to say the least. And must I remind you again that protocol 134-C-"

"Ah hush, ya complex calculator. We've got bigger problems. The whole ship is out of power and the oxygen levels are low, and it isn't getting any higher."

"Let us head to the fission core room and see if we can reactivate it."

John grinned "Wouldn't that be highly unadvisable and might cause the core to meltdown?"

"Quiet you."

They walked to the room and the core was sitting there in the center dimly glowing it gave the room an eery pinkish glow.

"Won't I suffer radiation poisoning by being in here?"

"No, but if you're that cautious put me on the suit shall allow decent protection."

"Ah, okay. Thanks Al."

Al sighed. "We need to jump the core back on."

"How, like with a flying automobile? Sure let me just go find some fission jumper cables."

"You need to hit it" If Al had a face he would be glaring at John.

"wha'?"

"Go up and hit it that should be enough to get it going again."

"Um okay...just like a punch or what?"

"Punch, Kick, headbutt, throw your whole body at it for all I care sir, as long as it has the necessary force to get it back running."

"You've gotten real uppity since you uploaded yourself into my suit... Was your data corrupted during the upload?"

"Possibly, but I feel better this way. As if I could do anything and say anything."

"Welcome to the world of the living. Now lets hit this thing"

"Oh you wont need to hit it anymore."

"What?"

"Well if you did hit it, it wouldn't have done anything but give you a pretty bad shock. Might have even stopped your heart."

"What the hell Al! You trying to kill me!" John asked in a mild shock.

Al gave a chuckle that chilled Johns spine. "It was all in good fun. The suits life support and medical program would have resuscitated you. I like having a sense of humor now."

"That's some fucked up sense of humor. Just don't do that again or I'll throw you out into deep space, maybe even a sun."

"Now whose the one with the bad sense of humor? If it makes it any better you may call me Al."

"I wasn't joking, and thank you but I was going to continue calling you that anyway. Now can you tell me how to turn this thing back on again?"

"That button over there with the sign that says on/off."

John face palmed "Right, okay."

The ship once again surged with power but it quickly proved to be unstable. Exposed wires cracking with sparks and the monitors were flickering with hazy images. It was pretty obvious the ship's equipment took a beating from the conflict.

"Okay Al, don't upload yourself to the ship lest you get another personality change. Just give me a status report."

"Moderate damage to the ship's control systems so we can't maneuver as well as before. We have damage on the outside of the ship as well, but luckily the inner layers has taken care of that. Because of the mass exertion to the engines we are missing one-" A loud crash was heard in the back of the ship. "-... two engines, and the core is still unstable but so far chances of melt down are 40%."

"Good, didn't want to have a meltdown after all that shit. Hah."

"Indeed. Now let's see if we can find a station or planet so that we can get into contact with any U.N.S ships." Al responded before remotely activating the scanners.

"Planet sighted. Scans indicate the atmosphere is equivalent to Earth. Seems as though the planet is still young, but life forms exist... sentient even."

"Well, lets check it out and see if we can find anything of use," John muttered. As those words left his mouth though the lighting flared with a red flashing light as an alert blared over the automated alarm systems, accented by a light rumbling coming from elsewhere.

"**Warning, warning, core meltdown imminent! Evacuation is highly advised!**"

John sighed "My fucking luck! Al, what can we do?"

"Pray to any demigods out there and hope for the best? No, I'm just kidding. We can launch the core straight out the back, emergency power has charged up and the ship can make a landing...a hard one, that is."

"Great Al, send that thing out into space. We're far enough so it wont effect the planet."

"Releasing core... core released," Al related, quickly interfacing with the craft.

"Okay, activating emergency power. I'm going to send the power to the shields since I want to see this ship be at least salvageable once we land. Okay, locking myself into the shock chair," John muttered as he went about making the proper changes before moving to get into the pilots seat.

"That won't help you. The amount of force that will be stressed on that already damaged chair will send you flying through the windshield, if it doesn't stop you of course. You'd damage the ship from the inside."

"Fucking prototypes... So, I can't be in here when the ship is landing. What the hell am I going to do!"

"Jump."

"Jump?"

"Your not trying to kill me again, are you Al?" He asked as he took off his helmet and moved it to the air lock.

"No, of course not. Now don't act so rash and hear me out! That suit your wearing is a survival suit made for crash landings and surviving in the wild equipped with a plasma gun, rations, and a communications device that can set out a signal for passing ships with other assorted survival tools. I can also lock the gel inside your suit so that you'll be able to survive such a fall. Ever realize what that metal pack is doing on your back?"

"Alright, I get you! Sounds possible, but I never jumped into an atmosphere before, any crash coarse lessons? No pun intended."

"No you just jump there nothing to worry about except for-" An immense explosions was heard and a large pinkish light ring flew across the stars.

"No time, that blast is pushing us into the planets gravitational pull! When I say jump, jump. Do you understand? Also put me back on!"

"Uh, I don't think I'm ready for this!"

The pull became intense as they descended into the planet, John made his way to an exit hatch as the hatch was opened it was dislodged and flew away.

"Ready..."

"Oh god."

"Set..."

"I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!"

"Jump!"

"Fuuuu**uuuuuaaaahahhhh!**"

John descended rapidly through the air, causing a red hot glow to emanate from his armor. The light gray suit that covered his entire body protected him from the intense heat though.

"Lock the suit Al, **lock it!**"

"Silence your yelling, It's not helping and stop flailing about, it's making the locking incredibly difficult!"

John did as Al said the suite immediately locked "I'll wake you in six hours after the impact. See you then!"

"What!"

"...Huh?"

"...A..Al.."

The last thing he saw was his ship speeding towards another direction, looking like a fiery meteor.

…...

The sun was setting on Equestria as the moon rose high in the dark blue colored sky. As the night finally arrived the residence of Ponyville were heading into their houses, saying goodnight to their neighbors, and tucking their children into bed. All that is except for one, Twilight Sparkle who was busying herself with a study fest reading up on astrology and how the stars can signify up coming events.

"Hey Owlowiscious, if I'm reading this correctly my horoscope says _Looking up into the heavens, questions beyond your wildest dreams will be answered_! Ooooooh I just can't go to sleep I have to see what the sky does for me!"

"Who."

"Me!"

"Who."

"Oh..."

"Who."

"I guess your right, maybe I should get some sleep..."

"Who."

"Right okay, after and hour of star gazing!"

"Who..."

Two hours came and went, and Twilight was really starting to becoming weary and sleepy. She didn't want to miss what the horoscope said, but staring at the night sky for two hours straight wasn't doing her any justice.

Twilight sighed as she decided that she should go to bed. "Maybe that horoscope was wrong... I mean it does sound pretty silly. After all, there's no scientific explanation for these types of things."

As she was laying her head to rest upon her pillow though, closing her eyes as she waited for sleep to take her, a loud boom was heard outside and a dark pink glow was casting its vibrant illumination all of Ponyville. It was almost as though for a brief moment it swallowed the darkness of the night. Twilight snapped her eyes open as she hopped out of bed and ran to the balcony. What she saw made her eyes grow as large as saucers. An amazing giant dark pink ring was in the sky, only for it to swiftly vanish after a few seconds, leaving the sky silent once again as the darkness retook the world.

"W-what was that? Was that it? So much for my questions being answered. Maybe I should send a letter to Princess Celestia about this," Twilight mused quietly as she gazed into the night sky, wondering if perhaps this was Princess Luna trying something new with the night sky.

A sudden serious of hurried knocks upon her door jostled Twilight out of her thoughts. Who could that be at this hour?

"Twilight! Twilight! Hey Twilight!"

Twilight made her way down to the front door and opened it to see a vibrating Pinkie Pie

"What's wrong Pinkie Pie? Did you see that big ring of light too?"

"Yeah, and after it was over my whole body went all shaky and my tail started twitching like loco!

Pinkie Pie then turned revealed her tail which looked like it was trying awfully hard to disconnect from Pinkie's Body.

"Somethings gonna fall and its going to be a doozy too! The dooziest doozy ever!"

Twilight was now visibly worried. She experienced Pinkie Pie's Pinkie senses before and they never failed to do what Pinkie said they do. No matter how unexplainable it was.

"Come on inside Pinkie. What ever the doozy is, it can't be safe!"

Before Pinkie could respond though, she gave a gasp as she pointed to the sky with her hoof. "Wait Twilight, look up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's- oh, no wait. It's a fireball!"

With a loud noise that could have passed as the roar of a full grown dragon, a large fireball was streaking through the sky as it left a thick trail of smoke in its wake. Another smaller fireball off to the side from it was also falling, the two ponies didn't take any notice of it though. The large object, whatever it was, was plummeting in the direction of the Everfree Forest! As it crashed, a large resounding boom was thrown up with a rumble and the sound of trees breaking underneath its impact. The impact also served to perfectly mask the sound of the smaller collision occurring in a field right on the edge of the Everfree.

"W-what in Celestia's name was that!" Twilight gasped in shock.

As the sound quickly faded Pinkie Pie's tail stopped it's vibrating and became docile once again.

"The doozy, that's what!"

"Lets go gather the rest of the girls Pinkie. We have to see what that thing was."

…...

Outside in the field John had crashed into the smoking, but none the less the uninjured pilot lay unconcious in a cringing position, his hand stretched out almost as if he was trying to block something. As his suit's helmet came back to life, holographic messages started flashing across the HUD within his helmet.

_-systems activating..._

_-current user...lieutenant Crosswind..._

_-Status unconscious...due to suit locking..._

_-unknown data residing in suit hard drive..._

_-Removing unknown data..._

"Oh no you don't, you obsolete interface," Al retorted as the corrupted AI quickly went to cut off the suits OS.

_-Error, Error, Erro...system reboot welcome user Allegiance..._

"Release the suit lock, then enter standby. I will handle the rest from here on out." The AI commanded smugly. That would teach that stupid interface for trying to delete him!

_-Resealing suit lock..._

_-process commencing..._

_-entering standby mode..._

The suit began to unharden as becoming flexible once again, letting the unconscious John lay his hands down slowly.

"Hmm, wake up. Come on, rise and shine Lieutenant! Crosswind, can you hear me?" Allegiance tried coaxing his partner up, to no avail. He was out like a rock! "Hmm... Let's try this."

Allegiance activated the suits alarm clock.

"You should have woken up as soon as the unlocking process began, and the system's say you're fine. You don't even have any injuries caused by the crash, so you're just being lazy and want to stay asleep huh? We'll, see about that. Time to see how much electricity it takes you to rise and shine! Activating emergency medical procedure subject has stop breathing and requires Defibrillation!"

The suit, toned down by Al so it didn't actually stop his heart, then sent 300 volts of electricity through John's system, causing him to scream out.

"**Gahhaahhh!**"

Breathing heavily John shot up, quickly trying to pull himself out of the small crater left from the impact only to stumble over the edge as he fell on his face.

"What the fuck was that... **Al,**" John yelled as his quite literally shocked awake mind put two and two together.

"Sir, you were harmed during the crash and you went into cardiopulmonary arrest. I merely went though necessary medical procedure to bring you back from the brink of death." It was a rather quick, and logical sounding response to be sure. With how much he'd been joking around though, he wasn't too sure his teammate would buy it. Surprisingly enough though, he did!

"Oh... Well then, thank you Al. I guess I owe you an apology there. I'd be dead a long time ago if it wasn't for you and your help." John conceded, an apologetic grin passing over his lips.

"Of course sir! My prime directive is to assist any U.N.S employees in times of need." If Allegiance had a face, it would be grinning now. That may be true, but it didn't mean he couldn't have a bit of fun along the way!

John pushed himself off the ground, quickly dusting himself off.

"Okay, now where the hell are we and where is the the AS4?"

"No records of this planet in the database. As for where the ship is located, look to the left of your internal view screen sir."

He did as Allegiance said and saw a small map showing his position and the position of the ship, as well as how far he was from his destination point.

"You and your common sense. Alright now lets see... 20 miles away! What the hell, wasn't expecting that kind of walk. Through a dense forest no less too. Fuck!"

"We should best be going before we come across any unwanted attention, it was quite the spectacle, our crash. I wouldn't doubt some locals are going the same way we are to investigate sir."

"Right, we need to get there before anyone starts messing with my ship."

"Our ship sir."

"What? I don't remember the ship given to you to transport it."

"I am the ship, lieutenant."

"No, you're the program that resides in the ships system. Therefore I own you as well."

"Don't make me shock you like I did when you were lazily asleep."

"Lazily asleep? **Oh, you piece of shit!**"

…...

**AN: Well there's chapter one hope you enjoyed it apologies for any punctuation errors (That's usually my main problem in writing as far as I know), Any questions? Just pm me. Constructive criticism is always welcomed. Also sorry for the small amount of pony in this there will be more in the next chapter. **

**Edit 10/6/11: So your wondering why this is updated and there's no new chapter weeeeeell this is a more touched up version. My proof reader did a really great job polishing up this first chapter and I hope he does more work on my existing & upcoming chapters! Anyway mad credit to him for the changes. If you are a new reader welcome hope you liked the story, and to those who are already readers there is more to come!**

** -HcHaiku**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Bad to worse**

"_Somewhere beyond the sea  
>somewhere waiting for me<br>my lover stands on golden sands  
>and watches the ships that g-"<em>

"Bobby Darin, sir?" Al interrupted John's song, the AI's voice carrying a teasing tone to it. Whether it was meant playfully or not, John really wasn't sure. "That music is absolutely ancient, but I commend you on your taste lieutenant."

The armored soldier rolled his eyes at this, a stray thought in the back of his mind wondering if he should be annoyed with the constant jabs he was getting from his mischievous mechanized companion or grateful that he at least had the company. That thought was quickly pushed to the back of his mind however as he once more glanced around at the alien, yet strangely familiar species of fauna passing by him. No matter how sassy the AI might be now that it was malfunctioning, the thought of some companionship was more comforting than the prospect of being stuck on an uncharted planet by himself if things went completely south. "Thanks Al, I think that's the nicest thing you said to me so far-"

"But your singing sounds like a moose being strangled while suffering under an epileptic seizure."

"Ouch," John winced, a small grin coming across his lips at that. Yeah, it was better than being alone, even if it was a close contest. "Well, I'm sorry I offended you so with the blaspheme emanating from my vocal cords ."

There was a moment of silence while John continued to walk, his armored hands pushing aside some stray foliage in his way.

"I didn't tell you to stop. Continue!" If the AI could have smirked, it would probably be grinning from ear to ear with how much enthusiasm it had in it's voice.

"You harshly insult my singing, then you tell me to continue. I really don't get you." John muttered in an annoyed tone, his strides pausing for a moment as he patted his hand against his armored forehead with a sight.

"Okay, your singing is horribly inadequate."

"… Is that better than, you know, a seizing moose?"

"Yes."

John smirked a little as he took took off his helmet, giving off an exaggerated sniff as he wiped his fingers over his cheek, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Al, I know that it took a lot for you to say that, and I want you to know that I'm glad you care."

"Just keep testing me sir..."

The currently stranded pilot chuckled a bit as he secured his helmet back over his head, shrugging off the implied threat. It wasn't like there was anything the autonomous AI could do to him... At least, there wasn't anything it could do without stranding the both of them there beyond petty pranks. Even if it was malfunctioning, Al hadn't done anything to really endanger him yet. If anything, most of the machines transgressions were playful... even if they were a little bit twisted in John's opinion.

A brief glance at his HUD navigation system caused John to pause for a moment, a sudden feeling of unease intruding upon him as he noticed a little blip. Although it was mainly for long distance missions to help a soldier keep track of their destination (his current nav. point leading him towards the still running transmission being broadcast from his ship), it also functioned as a rather weak heat sensor. While normally this wouldn't be any cause to be alarmed, seeing as he was in a forest after all, the fact of the matter was that he'd first noticed the mark nearly three minutes ago, and in that time it had only gotten closer. In that moment any and all playfulness left Johns voice as he took in his surroundings. The approach of the unidentified heat signature was putting him on edge. "We're going to take a rest here for a moment. It seems like we need to take care of something."

Picking up the pace, John continued to walk a bit further till he found himself a nice place to wait on his uninvited guest; a small rock formation that would give him a bit of cover. Pulling off his supply pack, he set it on the ground so as to take stock.

"I see you noticed it to lieutenant?" The rough teasing tone of his companion had similarly turned serious.

"Yep. This position should give us a good vantage point, so we'll wait here for a while." John acknowledged as he started rummaging through his pack, doing his best to take inventory of what he had handy before his uninvited guest caught up with them. "Okay, lets see what we have here... medical supplies, a few rations, a transmitter, plasma pistol, survival kit, ammo, and a combat knife," he honestly couldn't help but pause as he gazed incredulously at the stainless steel blade. "What the hell, they actually still make these? Hmmph, well regardless this is more then enough to get to the ship at least. Alright lets see what the hell's been stalking us."

Taking out all of the supplies he'd need, John quickly secured the supply pack to his back before holstering both of the weapons to his suit. Sheathing the knife for now at his waist, he brought his pistol to bare as he waited with bated breath for the stalker moving steadily towards him, the darkness of the night and the thick canopy obscuring most movement. Tension built as he waited expectantly for his follower to break through the treeline, his heartbeats audible behind his ears, contrasting with his controlled breaths. For a moment there was nothing, but all it took to snap John into action was the light rustling from the trees behind him, causing the armored soldier to snap around as he let loose a cracking bolt of plasma energy from the muzzle of the gun, sending a bolt of energy into the trees as the birds in the surrounding forest took flight at the startling noise. With narrowed eyes John inspected the bush from afar before slowly making his way towards it, carefully moving closer to whatever had set him off. Fingers tightening in anticipation, he finally got close enough to see... a rabbit. A rather startled looking rabbit who had only barely managed to not get a large chunk of his body torn free by the burning projectile, but still a rabbit.

"A rabbit? That's the thing that's been stalking us?" John really couldn't keep the disappointment out of his voice as the creatures eyes turned up to him with a strangely human-like look of petrified fear that quickly giving way to panic as it took off as fast as it could into the trees. "... Ughh."

"Well sir, they have been known to be quite vicious," Al fired off, the playful teasing tone of his quickly returning in full force now that there wasn't any danger. If anything, he sounded kind of smug.

John glared in aggravation as the creature moved out of sight. To think he got so worked up over a rabbit...

"Now that we've had our fun, lets get going," Al suggested, quickly causing a light sigh to escape John's lips as he turned his attention back towards the navpoint.

They'd wasted enough time on that, and the sooner they got to the ship the sooner he could fix the damn thing and get off this planet. He wasn't sure if there was anything dangerous in this world, but to be honest he really didn't want to risk it with an accidental encounter with the natives.

…...

"Come on girls, lets keep moving. We can't be to far off. It fell somewhere off in this direction after all."

Rainbow Dash huffed a bit at Twilight's affirmation, the aggravation of the long walk and being woken up so late causing her to throw her arms up in the air as she leaned back upon her haunches. "C'mon Twilight, you said that an hour ago! Where's this huge fire ball you and Pinkie decided to wake me in the middle of the night for anyway?"

"Yes, deary. All this walking is causing a horrible aching in my hoofs and this forest is so~ humid. My hair is getting positively frazzled," Rarity decided to add, her typically proper tone lightly laced with a bit of annoyance. If this didn't sound important and it wasn't Twilight who asked her, Rarity would've probably been in bed, getting her much needed beauty sleep.

"Um, c-can we turn back please," the tiny, quavering voice of the yellow coated pegasus in the middle of the group asked hopefully, the combination of how far they were from home and the sinister nature of the Everfree Forest putting her on edge. "M-maybe we should just come back in the morning, w-when it's brighter- **Eep!**"

Just as those words left Fluttershy's lips, a thunderous crack off in the distance shattered her tenuous grip upon her fears, causing her to quickly hide behind Applejack. "W-what was that!" Her words came out in a frightened squeak as she peeked out from behind her friend.

"Now now sugar cube, settle down now ya hear? It could'a jus' bin a tree fallin' somewhere," Applejack reassured her friend as she gave her a light grin. "No need ta' go an' jump outta yer skin."

All of the girls attention quickly turned towards their Pink friend as she pushed herself between the two, a rather serious look clouding those normally joyful eyes as she gave an exclamation.

"Twitchy tail!"

"Right, we'd best get moving before someone or something fa-**aaaaaaaahhh!**" Twilight barely had a moment to push the others on before she took that fateful step forward and took the fall, once again finding herself the source of Pinkie Pie's Pinky Senses.

"Ow ow ow.. my aching head," Twilight moaned as she slowly pushed herself back up onto her hoofs only to gasp as she noticed exactly what she'd crashed against. It was one of the strangest things the purple unicorn had ever seen in her life, to say the very least. What lay before her was a huge, alien metal structure that seemed to be littered with all manners of holes that revealed a complex series of broken machinery underneath that was letting off violent sparks. She couldn't help but be reminded, even if only vaguely, of the machinery she kept stored in her downstairs workshop. Even if somewhat similar, this was obviously on some whole other level than Equestrian technology was capable of, and if she guessed right from the large trench it seemed to have made in the earth and the felled trees littering its path it was probably what she'd seen in the sky a couple hours ago.

"You Okay Twi? You're not hurt, are you- … Whoa," the rainbow haired pegasus muttered, her eyes quickly turning upward as she gazed up in amazement, her wings folding securely against her back as she landed next to her friend. "This the thing we were looking for?" Rainbow Dash asked with note of uncertainty in her voice.

The rest of the girls soon joined Twilight and Rainbow Dash as they stared in amazement at the strange object before them. Quickly recovering from the feeling of wonder and curiosity of what this thing was (or more importantly, where it'd come from and why it was here) as her analytical mind picked up on something peculiar. She'd hit something, and although she'd momentarily assumed she'd smacked into... whatever this thing was, now that the pain in her head had dulled to a gentle throb she could tell she was still a good few feet from its edge. had she hit it so hard she'd been pushed back upon impact or something? No, even if she was disoriented she'd definitely notice the feeling of bouncing off of its hard looking surface, and she'd probably sport a few extra bruises as well.

"_Hmm, let's see here..._" She thought to herself as she slowly took an inquisitive step forward only to pause as she felt her hoof smack against _something_. Taking a slow step backwards, and finally raising her hoof a little bit she pressed it forward. As she made contact with the invisible wall, her eyes couldn't help but widen as the air before her erupted with a eerie blue wall of light, its substance rippling like water underneath her touch. Pulling her hand back in a recoil, causing the wall to vanish, Twilight half expected it to singe her. After a quick inspecting her hoof though she was relieved to see nothing had happened to it. Feeling a bit more secure that it wasn't going to hurt her she moved to touch it again... only for Pinkie Pie to quickly leap forward, causing the wall to spring back to life as she hugged it.

"Oooooooh, it's warm. Hahah~!" Pinkie exclaimed as she proceeded to poke it, grinning at the way it seemed to ripple underneath her touch. "Boop beep boop."

"It's some kind of barrier. Whatever it is, it obviously wants to keep us out," Twilight mused as she turned back towards the others. "Rainbow, go see if you can find some kind of opening. I'll see what I can do with my magic from this side."

"You got it, Twi!" With a confident smirk, the rainbow maned pegasus quickly took off as she started circling the object, making sure to skim her hooves over the surface of the barrier to test it for any unguarded entrances. It was only a couple moments later that she spotted what looked suspiciously like a door opening around the opposite side of the building.

"Hey, I think I found something," Rainbow quickly called her friends over as she experimentally stretched her hand towards the opening. It honestly wasn't that surprising when the transparent border sprung to life, but it didn't help the frustration she felt. "The barrier thing's still in the way though."

"Okay, we'll try to break through over there. Let's go girls," Twilight called out before motioning for the others to follow her, the lavender unicorn doing her best to appear calm, collected, and above all else, in control. It wasn't an easy task by any stretch of the imagination, seeing as the strange structure had quite literally fallen from the heavens and in its singed and battered state gave off a ominous aura. What exactly was this thing doing here, and what exactly was its purpose?

"Alright," Twilight began as she gave the blocked off opening before her a rather determined gaze as her horn started to glow, "Let's see if I can't dispel this barrier."

Softly closing her eyes, Twilight's brows furrowed a bit as she focused on the dispell charm. It wasn't that hard of a spell, but seeing as this barrier seemed to stretch around the entirety of the crafts area the source of its power was no doubt quite powerful. As she finished forming the spell, she let her power loose over the barrier. She knew that something was off even before she opened her eyes however. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't feel anything resisting her spell... For that matter, she couldn't sense any magic at all within this wall! Opening her eyes only confirmed this. For all intents and purposes, the spell had almost no effect on the construct as a whole! The only discernible difference was the rippling upon the transparent barrier where the magic had struck it.

"_Alright,_" Twilight thought quietly to herself as she reassessed the situation. "_Looks like I'm going to have to take a different approach._"

"Um, is everything alright Twilight?" At this question, Twilight quickly turned towards Rarity as she gave her a small nod. "Yes, but I think we're going to need to try a different approach with this one Rarity. I think I'm going to need your help with this one. Mind helping me?"

" Of course not Twilight dear, but pray tell what are we going to attempt?"

"Well, since dispelling it doesn't seem to work we're going to concentrate our magic on a single point to try and make a small hole in it. We'll then use our magic to force it open enough for one of us to get inside."

"Well, I don't usually use my magic in such a brutish manner, but if it will help us I will give you my assistance."

Horns lighting up with their own magical power, the two unicorns started their task.

…...

John continued his trek through the Everfree Forest, pistol cautiously drawn as he did his best to get to his ship. He hadn't really thought much about it at the time, but the fact there was actually a _rabbit_ within the forest was incredibly suspicious. After all, this was more likely than not a completely alien world in an uncharted portion of space. What were the chances of it having a species almost identical to one that was native to his own world? For that matter, what else did this forest hide? Not dawdling, he did his best to set a decent pace. The faster he was to recovering his ship, the better.

Sadly he quickly found out the pace he was setting was a bit much on him, the dull burning flowing through his legs quickly urging the soldier to take a little rest. As luck would have it, there was the remains of a toppled over tree within the area which he could use to sit. It wasn't much, but the lack of foliage above his head meant nothing could get the jump on him if there was anything on this planet that traveled through the trees. The extra light from the overhanging moon was also a nice reprieve.

"Man," he quietly muttered as his eyes turned upward towards the heavens, a brief grin spreading over his lips unseen behind the protective helmet, "that view never gets old, no matter what planet you're on."

Truly, without the obstructive lights of the industrialized cities, or even the lights that worked to dim out the remarkable sights from the cockpit of his ship, the sky was a truly breathtaking image. Stars dotted the heavens like a diamond studded tapestry, each casting a positively stunning glimmer upon the otherwise barren black canvas. The pièce de résistance however was most definitely the beautifully glowing sphere hanging high above his head, its gentle light bathing the area in its dim illumination. If he had to guess, he'd say it was around midnight. He'd been walking for at least three hours now, so if this planets days were anything like earths he probably started in the early hours of the night.

These thoughts of peace were broken surprisingly gently by his snarky companion. "Lieutenant, we should be going lest we have to sleep out here, exposed to the elements and its inhabitants. We're close, so you should be able to take a rest after we get inside. Now come on, just 300 more feet."

"Yeah, I'd much rather sleep in the ship's pilot quarters... Unless the crash caused everything to flip upside down. In which case, it really wouldn't be worth the trouble of putting everything back. I'll probably just pass out near the entrance of the room."

"All appliances and furniture are bolted down, sir, so you won't have to worry about that."

"All the more reason to get to the ship," He yawned tiredly as he quickly pushed himself back up.

As John got off the stump though, his eyes quickly widened as he caught something on his HUD's censors. He was barely able to contain his curse as he noticed a heat signature, one that was for all intents and purposes right on top of him. Tiredness quickly evaporating, John's battle sharpened senses quickly alerted him to a strange shadow that was bolting through the brush, it's silhouette quickly putting him on high alert as he sent a quick succession of plasma round its way, rounds that it was able to avoid with ease seeing as he was already on the move. Whatever it was, it was big and (more importantly) it was fast. It was damn fast. This was made all the more apparent it seemed to circle him in a gauging manner. So it was a predator as well? Wonderful...

"Dammit, what the hell is that thing?"

"From what I can tell there are only two of them Lieutenant. Predators most likely. Stay alert, if I'm correct one will act as a decoy while the other goes in for the kill."

The movements stopped for a moment, what he now knew as twin hunters trying to get the jump on him him quickly falling back into the cover of the forest. He knew the strike was coming. As such, he was quick to spin around when the sound of rustling from behind alerted him to quickly spin around. He wasn't really sure what to expect, the sight of what was charging him went beyond what he expected. There, charging towards him, was what he could only describe as a bat winged lion that had a positively deadly looking scorpion's tail behind it. He wasn't sure exactly _how_ deadly that stinger was, but honestly he wasn't in the mood to find out. Fire arm already trained on his unsuspecting target, he quickly unleashed two plasma shots at the creature. Although he struck it in the shoulder and forearm, it did little to stop the creatures momentum as it quickly leaped towards its victim with an enraged and pained roar, the manticores massive clawed paws gave a powerful swipe as they knocked him backwards. The blade like claws were sharp, but they weren't enough to tear through his reinforced armor thankfully. He was able to roll with it the strike, quickly regaining his bearings as he brought his gun up to counterattack. He was too late though, as the creature had already disappeared into the forest.

This time John actually let a small curse escape his lips as he quickly glanced around, doing his best to get a pinpoint on the beasts location. Damn this standard issue sensor system! Despite what one would think, the display only showed life signs within a fifteen meter diameter. While this was a great way to spot ambushes, it honestly did jack whenever you were in a close quarters combat situation. Like the first charge though, John was only alerted to the charging beast by the light rustle of the vegetation to his left as yet another manticore charged at him, the second if the lack of singed fur where his first target was hit was any indication. He didn't have a chance to fire this time though as his second predator quickly pounced on him from behind, its superior weight crashing down upon him, using it's advantage of flight to get the jump on him. Consequently, his aim was pushed off course as it just missed the other advancing creature. Then, with a pleased growl its head quickly lunged down as it bit into John's shoulder.

While the creatures claws weren't strong enough to penetrate his suit, the crushing force behind its jaw muscles quickly proved to be more than a match as its teeth tore through the metallic covering, digging its sharp edges deep in as it tore through flesh and bones. Struggling futily, John tried to get a shot in on the wounded creature, for this was most undoubtedly the one that he'd struck with the initial plasma rounds if the smell of singed fur and burnt flesh was any indication. With his arm held down by its paw though, he found that it was a struggle just to get a decent aim on the creature.

The pain was excruciating. Despite his training, and the pain killers Al was doing his best to pump into his partners body through the suits limited automated medical functions, John couldn't suppress the strained screams of pain as his shoulder was cut into. Although the two predators were fairly sure their prey was as good as dead, the one pushing down upon its back quickly raised its tail to strike before forcing it down into the creatures back, fully intent on paralyzing its pray for good measure.. Lacking the power of the jaw however it, like the clawing, failed in penetrating his back armor. That didn't change the fact the impact hurt like hell though.

John grit his teeth as his mind quickly threw itself around, trying to work past the excruciating pain he was being put through despite the high amount of both natural and artificial adrenaline coursing through his battered form. A plan quickly sprung into his mind. Well, less of a plan and more of a last ditch effort to get out of this alive, but better than the alternative.

"Lieutenant, do something! Don't just sit there and die," Al urged his partner desperately, quickly spurring the soldier into action. With strained words, he gave his confirmation through gritted teeth.

"Don't. Worry.** I. Will!**"

…...

It took more effort than she initially anticipated, but with Rarity's help Twilight was able to make some headway in the barrier. The barrier initially gave them quite a bit of resistance as their combined magics materialized around the portion of the barrier just outside the entryway, causing the glowing wall to light up as it gave resistant quivers in its form. With a final crackle of power though, a small portion of the barrier finally gave way as a small hole appeared in it.

That was all the two needed. This wasn't exactly a typical use of unicorn telekinesis, but it seemed to do the job quite nicely as the hole was slowly pried open to a decent size. It quivered a little bit as Rarity's power waned slightly at the exertion she was putting into it, but Twilight was quick to come to her friends aid as she bolstered the rip with a bit more of her own power.

"O-okay.. s-somepony jump in," Twilight directed the others, her eyes remaining closed in concentration as she struggled to maintain the entrance.

No one seemed to move for a second, various looks of nervousness and apprehension about entering this strange... thing showing upon their faces. That is, except for Pinkie Pie who had quite the excited little smile over her lips as she quickly hopped on into the darkened entryway.

There was a bated silence for a few moments as the two pegasi and earth pony waited for something. It was a small nagging, but they couldn't help but hope nothing was around the corner, waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting party pony.

At the same time, the thoughts going through the bubbly pink ponies head couldn't have been any further from her friends thoughts. As she quickly hopped through the darkened hallway she quickly glanced through the really weird house, cause to be honest that was the only thing she could guess it was. Of course, as she glanced around at all of the really cool and blinking lights and glowing screens she noted that it wasn't like any kind of house that she'd seen before, and since this was most likely that really big thing that fell out of the sky earlier that night than that meant it moved, and since it moved and it was a house that meant whoever owned it was from far away! Oh, she'd have to throw a really big extra-special welcome to Ponyville party, or more so, a welcome to Equestria party! Oh, it'll be the best party ever!

Moving back to the matter at hand though, Pinkie gave one more searching glance before turning back to the others. "C'mon girls! It seems safe, and it's really cool in here."

Apart from Fluttershy's sigh of relief and Applejack's form visibly relaxing at the reassurance, Rainbow Dash was the most emboldened by the announcement. "Alright," she said as she quickly gave a few flaps of her wings to push her a couple inches above the ground. "Let's see what's inside this thing-" she started, preparing to propel herself through the hole only for her to jump a little bit in surprise, quickly falling to the ground as a sharp crack pierced the silence of the night. This was quickly followed by a series of loud roars, and finally a blood curdling scream.

The cracks were enough to put Fluttershy on edge, but as the roars and the screams reached her she couldn't help but give a tiny squeak of fright as she quickly ducked behind Applejack yet again. With a now quivering voice, she gently stuck her head out from behind her. "W-w-what w-was that!"

Applejack couldn't honestly answer as she gave a worried scowl, her eyes staring apprehensively towards the sound.

"It sounded like a manticore, and it also sounds like somepony's in trouble," Twilight quickly observed, her eyes quickly pulling away from the door as the sound grabbed her attention. Likewise, as her attention left it so too did the magic as the barrier quickly refilled the gap they'd created. "Come on, we have to help them before it's too late." Her words seemed to snap the others out of their shocked states before they all gave a nod of agreement, with Fluttershy's being noticably more nervous about the whole thing before they took off after the sound, except for Pinkie who tried to yell after the girls.

"Hey, wait! I'm still in here!"

"We'll come back for you later Pinkie, just wait for us!" Twilight called back as they continued towards the source of the screams, hoping that they weren't too late to save whoever was in trouble. Nothing could have prepared them for what they found when they came into the clearing though. What they saw was somepony- or rather, some _thing_ getting eaten by two quite hungry manticores. Eye's widening, Twilight couldn't help but feel a combination of both panic, curiosity, and urgency welling up within her. If she had seen this creature in any other situation, she might have felt intimidated by it seeing as its entire form was covered in some kind of shell, or more likely some form of armor with the way it glinted in the moonlight. With its minimalistic, although efficient, design it would be a safe bet it was some kind of fighter, and the mere fact Twilight was at a loss for what it could be raised yet another red flag. At the same time though, with the way the manticore before her had its jaws fastened around its shoulder, eagerly attempting to rip off its next meal as it blood oozed freely through its teeth, Twilight couldn't exactly just leave it.

She didn't have to though as the creature's mutterings quickly took on a new level, his cry rising over the savage rumbling from the feline hybrids above him. "**I. Will!**"

With those words, its actions confirmed everything Twilight had feared.

Through a combination of both adrenaline, will power, and rigorous training John's free hand, which had been steadily moving towards his side, wrenched his knife from it's holster. The movement hurt like hell with how his movement jostled the wretching teeth nearly 3/4ths an inch into his flesh, but it was more than worth it as he quickly swung the blade around, trying to strike the face of the manticore attached to his shoulder. Somehow, his blind strike was lucky enough to land squarely in the beasts eye. He didn't have enough strength to force it deep enough to take it down, but as he pulled the blade out the bloodcurdling roar of pain and rage it let out as it quickly took a few steps back.

Taking his chance, John quickly dropped his blood soaked knife before he grabbed for his pistol in his now limp right hand. In a single motion, he rounded the muzzle of his gun right at the Manitcore doing its best to rip out his leg. There were two cracks as bolts of plasma energy ripped through the darkness before both hit the unsuspecting beast, one nearly taking off the creatures muzzle as it struck against its face, the other burning through the overgrown cat's face. It fell limp before it could even react.

John panted softly as he sluggishly pushed himself to his feet. While his arm was still fairly unresponsive, giving him no more than a few angered flares of pain for his trouble, his leg seemed to be able to support his weight. It was screaming at him for trying, yes, but he could still move. In the next few moments his eyes quickly went from his gun, to the combat knife laying upon the ground just a few feet from him, and finally to the wounded and visually impaired manticore that was just getting back its bearings to the point that it noticed exactly what he'd done to his partner. No one could see it, but John's enraged eyes behind his helmet held an intensity comparable to, if not dwarfing that of the creature as it bared its teeth towards this strange creature with a deadly growl.

It was illogical, block headed, and above all else it was idiotic, but an almost animalistic like rage had all but overtaken the soldier. Quickly dropping his pistol, John sprinted forward in a unsteady, but still surprisingly fast movement as he scooped up his combat knife from the ground. Rushing forward, filled with the intent of carving this thing apart piece by piece, the manticore moved to retaliate as it moved to quickly bat its opponent out of the way with its extended claws. This move was rewarded with two things: the first of which being the satisfaction of seeing his opponent thrown to the ground several feet away and the feeling of part of its arm receiving a deep, gushing wound.

While the beast stumbled back at the unexpected hit with a loud roar of pain, John merely released a pained hiss as his already torn up arm gave another shout of pain, the blood gushing out in excess from his own wounds from how quickly his heart was pumping now. This didn't stop him though. Even if he wasn't thinking clearly, the small part of him that was knew he probably wasn't going to survive this. Even so, he'd be damned if he was going to go down without a fight. He'd tried his best to roll with the landing, haphazardly coming to his feet before rushing right back into the fray, his knife pulled back as he made those last few movements. The creature tried to dodge but he wasn't quick enough as John plunged his knife deep into the Manticore's eye socket before it could fully prepare to latch onto him once more with those teeth of his.

He didn't stop there though. As the creature started to fall to the ground John quickly pulled back as he started continually slicing into the creature before him, his vision clouding over as he continued to vent the anger he was going through onto the downed creature. It was dead, but for that one moment it didn't really matter to John anymore. Pulling his knife back, he started to slice into the creatures flash with a vengeance as he fell to his knees, attacking the downed creature with everything he had left.

"Stop Sir, it's dead! This is highly unnecessary. Control yourself!"

Allegiance continued to protest, but to no avail. John still was very much enraged, and whether it were the wounds, the massive amount of adrenaline pumping through his veins, the fact today was really starting to turn into a _really_ bad day, or a combination of them all, he simply wouldn't let up his assault. Hit after bloody hit continued to connect, eliciting gruesome went crunches from the creature as flesh flew from the brutalized manticore.

It almost seemed as though nothing could calm him down, until a shout broke through his rage. It was a saddening sound to be honest, a voice that was laced with both sadness, desperation, and no small amount of fear. That wasn't what fully brought him back from the brink though. Just as his blade paused in its onslaught, two quivering, yet firm yellow furred appendages wrapped around him in an almost pleading embrace as whatever was behind him tried to hold him back.

"**Stop it, it's dead!**" The sound of its pleading cry finally brought him back to his senses as it continued to plead in a broken and sobbing voice, its now soft voice only registering because of how close this creatures mouth was to his ear. "Stop.. please stop..."

As his rage faded, so too did his will as he quickly fell back, only barely catching sight through his already blurring eyes of whoever had held him back. If he wasn't bleeding to death, he might have reflected on how ridiculous she looked. As it stood though, he gave what he assumed was going to be his final message to the only friend he had with him.

"Al... I'm sorry, I wasn't quick enough," he said in a pained voice, somehow forcing a little bit of a chuckle out of his lips. So, this was how he died then? Mauled to death by a couple of mutated circus animals? Man, what a way to go. With that, his consciousness faded.

"John? Sir, can you hear me? … Don't worry sir, I _will_ handle this," Allegiance quickly affirmed, a note of panic coming into the sentient artificial intelligences voice as its circuits quickly pieced together a plan. "**You,** whoever you are, assist me."

All the while Fluttershy was doing her best to steady her already rather strained nerves. Honestly, she'd probably be the first pony to tell you she wasn't the bravest pony around. She definitely wasn't brave like Rainbow Dash or Applejack, but there was no way she'd let an animal in need bleed out and die, no matter how scary it was. What she'd just seen this creature do was brutal, yes, but it was only defending itself. The courage she drew from this resolve was probably the only thing that kept her fears from pushing her to run away from the creature when the second voice came from the metal, blood soaked head of the creature she was standing worriedly over.

"Whoever you are, assist me. You seem to speak the same language as me, yes? Grab the pack off of his back, quickly!"

Suppressing the slight yelp she felt coming on from the strange second voice, she quickly nodded as she gently rolled the creature over, pulling out the box with the help of Allegiance. On opening the metallic box, she found an assortment of items.

"Now, grab the box with the red cross on it. Open it and look for a vial that has a blue liquid inside it, then find a syringe and fill it with the liquid." If things weren't so tense, Al would've probably been wondering how the creature was able to both get and open the box with such ease despite being an equine of some sort. For the moment though, he simply counted his blessings.

Fluttershy had difficulty finding a few of the items, but after a little bit of guidance managed to get it done.

"Alright, inject the fluid into his wounds on his shoulder shoulder and leg."

She had a bit of difficulty actually using the device, even with how unnaturally dexterous a ponies hoof could be without fingers, it was still pretty awkward handling the needle. In the end though, she finally managed to get the fluid injected after only a little bit of trouble. She waited with baited breath as she watched the wounds. She honestly didn't know what else to do, and she was hoping beyond hope that that would do something. When she'd initially saw the gushing wounds she was almost certain there wouldn't be anything she could do the save... whatever this was. With the instructions the voice was giving her, she held onto a shred of hope that it'd be okay.

Nothing happened at first. The poor pegasus was nearly on the verge of tears before suddenly, before her very eyes the wounds started to close at a remarkable speed. Its limp, most decidedly fractured arm seemed to straighten up as the bone was neatly repaired by the strange substance before the gaping wound seemed to quickly heal over, leaving nothing more than a visible, blood soaked scar. Even so, the heavy and trembling breaths the creature was giving let the nervous pegasus know he was still in danger.

"He's lost to much blood and he needs a transfusion," Al quickly continued, his voice having a steely seriousness about it. "Please, have you seen our ship near by? We're extremely close to it, and we can probably save him with the equipment we have there."

Working her way through the shock that'd descended upon the other ponies present, Twilight quickly gave a nod to the mysterious voice. She had a lot of questions, but those could wait for now. "Y-yes, we have but there's a barrier in the way, and I'm not sure we can open it in time to save him."

"Woah! Hold on there Twilight, we aren't really going to help this thing are we," Rainbow Dash quickly interjected, her normally overconfident facade shaken by the horrifying display she'd just witnessed.

Giving her friend a surprised look, Fluttershy quickly spoke up. "Of course we are, it needs us!"

"Whoa thar, hold on now sugar cube. Y'all did 'jus see what he did to them manticores, didn't ya," Applejack quickly spoke up, having similarly broken out of her state of shock as she cast a glance at the slaughtered creatures. "He's too dangerous ta' help. What says he ain't gonna turn on us once he gets better?"

Having been created a being of logic, Al was never really created with the idea of emotional responses in mind. They were programmed in of course, so he could have the proper way to deal with overly emotional users less they hurt themselves in some way or another. As John's breathing started to grow lighter though, Al was experiencing one of his own.

"Now you listen here, my friend was just doing what he had to do to survive! If he didn't, he probably would've been dead long ago. Now he's going to do unless we get him to the ship, and I mean **now!**"

Despite the angry tone, the voices words sufficiently cowed the elements of loyalty and honesty into submission as they bowed their heads a bit. Sure, they were still shaken up about the whole thing, but there was no way they'd want some creatures death on the hooves, no matter how scary it was.

"Okay, it's decided. We'll help you," Twilight announced, a serious tinge coming over her eyes as she quickly turned towards her timid friend. "Fluttershy, you grab his pack. I'll carry him to their ship."

"What," Al asked in a half way shocked, half way worried tone at this. "No, someone should help you miss. You're much to small to carry him, especially in his armor Miss... uh?"

"Twilight Sparkle, and don't worry. I won't drop him."

Allegiance would've argued a bit more if it wasn't for the sudden purple aura that sprung around Twilight's horn, which in turn seemed to appear around John as he quickly started to float into the air. If Allegiance had a face, it would've had an expression of amazement on right about now.

"Well then," Allegiance muttered, quickly brushing aside the feeling, "let's head out to the ship then, and hurry!"

They made good time as the group ran quickly through the woods, the ship quickly coming into view. As they came to the barred off door, the sight of a rather bored Pinkie playing a game of tic-tac-toe upon a piece of paper she'd found in the ship came into sight. Likewise, she seemed to perk up when she caught sight of her friends. "Hiya guys! Ooooh, what's that?"

Allegiance was the first to speak up. "You, how did you get in there?"

Turning around, Twilight quickly explained. "We made a hole using our magic. We were about to go inside, but your friends screams broke our concentration. Pinkie Pie was the only one who got inside."

"I see," Allegiance muttered, figuring the questions about this so called _magic_ could wait till they got his partner patched up. "Alright, you, Miss Sparkle was it? Would you mind taking me off?"

Twilight looked a little bit unsure of how to do such, but Allegiance quickly supplied that he was, in fact, the helmet that Twilight had previously assumed to be the creatures head. It took a little bit of coaching, but Twilight quickly got the helmet off, a slight clicking sound coming off as the already ruptured airlock was disengaged. After getting the helmet off, she was pretty surprised to see how... fragile this thing looked. In fact, just looking at it it didn't look dangerous at all.

"Alright, now hand me over to miss Pie."

Seemingly unphased, the perpetually sugar high pony gave an enthusiastic nod. "Yup, that's me! Pinkie Pie, the number one party pony in all of Equestria!"

"Well then..." Allegiance started, momentarily taken aback by the overenthusiastic introduction before setting his mind back on the task at hand. "Alright, throw me to her Miss Sparkle, and quickly."

"But what about the barrier?"

"Explanations will be given after my friend's life has been saved, now throw!"

Twilight tossed Allegiance towards Pinkie, an intrigued look coming over her eyes as she saw the helmet pass through the shielding with nothing but a slight sound of static, the barrier doing nothing but lighting up a little bit as it seemed to pass through it like it was nothing.

"Now Miss Pie, walk to the end of this hallway of the ship and take a left."

"Okie dokie lokie," Pinkie acknowledged, giving a little salute before she placed the helmet on top of her head before following the AI's directions as she made her way through the dark ship. She couldnt' exactly fit the helmet over her head though, so she was wearing it more like a hat than a helmet.

"Continue forward and then go up the stairs to your right. Good, now enter that room over there."

Pinkie Pie finally came to a room with a bunch of buttons, switches, and lights lined up along the front and sides of the room. The front panel of the cockpit was obscured by the chair that had nearly been thrown out the windshield of the ship.

"Would you mind pulling that chair off, Miss Pie?"

"Gotcha," Pinkie quickly acknowledged as she jumped up onto her hind legs, her front hooves latching onto the chair as she pulled the chair to the floor. As she did though, her eyes were quickly turned towards the rather pretty buttons before her. "Oooooooh~!"

"Yes, it's very impressive," Allegiance agreed before trying to turn her attention back to the matter at hand. "Now, you see the buttons in front of you? Press the eleventh one to the right."

Taking a moment to skim over the series of buttons directly in front of her, she quickly counted through them. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten- ahah!"

With a triumphant call, she pressed the button and the shield dropped as it suddenly lit up before slowly dissolving from the top down.

"Now lets head downstairs and tell the others to come inside, quickly now!"

After getting everyone inside and guiding them to the medical bay, Allegiance quickly went about giving them orders.

"Lay him on the table gently, then grab one of the red bags over there in that small refrigerator Miss Sparkle."

"What about his blood type?" Twilight quickly asked after she got the patient on the indicated table, already on her way towards the fridge. As John lay upon the table, a number of automated arms quickly sprung out of the automated health care unit which quickly went about hooking up a multitude of wires to the patient, his vitals quickly appearing on a few screens attached to it.

"No need, that blood is all type O, now hurry. Alright Miss... Um, what's your name? You, with the purple mane."

"Rarity," Rarity quickly supplied, a look of resolve in her eyes. She'd been as unsure as the others when they'd seen the creature attack those manticores, but after the long walk she had found herself resolving to help it.

"Thank you Miss Rarity, now you'll find an IV stand and a box with some IV's behind you. I'm going to need you to insert one of them into him after we-"

"Oh no, he's stopped breathing! H-his heart's stopped!" Twilight suddenly cried out, her shout alerting everyone to the flat line.

"He's going under cardiac arrest! Miss, with the hat, grab that defibrillator to your right and bring it here. You with the multicolored hair, in that container are pads bring them here!"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash hurried to bring Allegiance the things he required.

"Quickly Miss Sparkle, take this suit off of him and Miss Fluttershy, place one of these pads on his upper right torso and the other on his lower left side."

Twilight managed to take off the battered suit with her telekinesis while Fluttershy carefully placed the pads in their right positions.

"Now Miss Sparkle, rub these together and place them on the pads and then push this button. Tell me when you're ready."

With her horn alight, the soft glow of her telekinesis made quick work of getting everything ready. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Do it."

The defibrillator sent electricity through Johns system causing his body to jump but there was no heartbeat.

"Again."

No heartbeat.

"Again."

Still no heartbeat

"I don't think he-"

"Again!"

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, that final jolt did the trick as the soldier's lungs finally kicked back into action. The steady, but still none the less weak pulse gave the others a sigh of relief.

"Alright, he's stabilized. Miss Rarity, would you be so kind as to give him the blood now?"

With a new found sense of relief, the girls followed the AI's instructions quickly as they strived to save this things life. Through it all though, they all couldn't help but feel a tinge of worry. If it woke up, would this thing actually feel greatful for their help, or just attack them? They honestly didn't know, but it wasn't like they could just let it die.

…...

"_John!"_

"_John!"_

"_**John!**"_

"_**You okay man?**"_

"**Because that R.E.D. pulse cannon just sent you through a wall!**"

John groaned as the familiar voice roused him out of his trauma induced sleep, the features of his good friend Mark's combat armor slowly coming into focus as he started to get his bearings. His mind was awash with confusion as he tried to figure out what exactly was going on, or for that matter, why he felt like he'd just been pummeled mercilessly by a ton of bricks?

As his mind finally started to come back to its senses the sound of combat in the distance quickly answered his question for him. He was starting to remember a little bit. He was currently on the battlefield, his brother in arms, in addition to step brother, stood over him with a helping hand. The constant cracks of artillery being being at a rapid rate and the sounds of combat finally penetrated his grogginess. Were the R.E.D. actually attack or something?

"Mark? W-wha-" the U.N.S. soldier asked in a confused tone before finally noticing his similarly garbed comrades hand reaching out to him to help him up, a hand he quickly took as he hoisted himself back to his feet. "Yeah, yeah! I'm okay... What the hell is going on?"

"That blast must have given you more than shell shock, eh?" The remark held a little playful barb in it, but John knew it was more to play off the worry he undoubtedly experienced after seeing him take a hit.

Mark's demeanor gained a slightly more serious after he gave his friend a small nod though, figuring it was time to get back to business. "But alright, R.E.D. are moving on our northern position of the city. Our company has been reassigned to that area. We got to give our boys at central some minor assistance till they finish their new toy. Now enough with playing amnesia, let's get the fuck over there!"

His training quickly kicking in, John gave a quick nod as the two joined the already departing regiment on foot, the nearly identical group of combat armored garbed soldiers making a mad dash for their position. It would probably take a while on foot, but it wasn't like their training didn't train the endurance and speed needed to make the trek. Thankfully it seemed as though they didn't need to as a U.N.S. Pathmaker tank quickly came storming down the path as it quickly pulled up next to them. The tank's real name was the N42-B, but it was nicknamed _The Pathmaker_ because of the way it plowed through R.E.D.'s in previous battles with that main cannon of its.

"Howdy," a rather familiar voice quickly sprung to life on the groups COM system. "Y'all look like ya need a ride!"

"Gale, you son of a bitch, is that you," John asked with friendly barb. "Where the hell did you get a Pathmaker?"

"Took it for a spin from the base seein' as we're gonna need it for the _minor assistance_. Now, y'all gonna sit there with yer mouth's open or ya gonna hop on and help them boys up in the north district?"

Without another word the two soldiers quickly jumped onto the armored skirt of the tank with a number of the other soldiers who'd already made their way around the other side as they started piling in. It couldn't fit all the soldiers, but the quicker they got some reinforcements up that way the better. After Gale kicked it into gear, it only took them 10 minutes to get to the north district.

The edge of the north district of the civilian-abandoned city was a mess. Trash and debris from the damaged buildings littered the street, giving John the impression that after this fight was over it'd probably look like a ghost town if it weren't for the soldiers stationed here. There were quite a few makeshift hospitals littered around as well, each packed to the brim with both the wounded and the dead. It honestly made John dread what was to come.

The sight that unfolded before them couldn't be described as any less than a complete war zone. Honestly things didn't look that good, considering the enemy seemed to outnumber them at least ten to one. If it wasn't for the high ground they had over them, there probably wouldn't be anything keeping the R.E.D.'s from completely overwhelming them. There wasn't any air support, the artillery was destroyed, and it was pretty much just the infantry men with rifles and launchers left. Yeah, _minor __assistance needed _was one hell of an understatement.

Their arrival gave some of the soldiers defending the northern district a boost in moral though, and the Pathmaker helped ease the soldiers misgivings as well. Quickly hopping off the tank, John and Mark made their way towards the commanders tent as they stood at attention to the commander who was sending out orders through the COM system in his helmet.

"colonel, Echo company has arrived."

Eyes perking up a bit, the Colonel quickly rounded on the soldiers as he gave them a quick nod. "At ease, and it's about damn time son. Let's not waste any time," their superior stated matter of factly as he quickly inputted a few commands into the hand held terminal he had in his hand, the secure data transfer causing a map of the immediate area to appear in the two soldiers HUD's with a few areas marked off. "You tell your boys to set up on the marked points. We need to keep those bastard REDs off central. If those boys over there don't get that weapon finished, we're going to have to call in a full retreat. We've been defending this damn position for three straight days and no goddamned word from central until today saying _help was on the way_. This tactical position is all we have left. Soon we're gonna be fighting these REDs with sticks and stones."

"Understood sir. The entirety of Echo company hasn't arrived yet, but we've got a Pathmaker with us. You can count on us."

"Well I'll be damned, I didn't know HQ loved us boys here up in the north district enough to give us one of them babies," the colonel muttered, this news seeming to alleviate quite a bit of the pressure building up on him. "That changes things.. Alright, set that thing up on this location and take out their artillery. They've been raining hell on us all day, and it's about time we did some of our own. Once your objective is complete, move onto other targets. You have out orders, now move out boys... Oh, and lose those energy weapons. Once central's weapon is complete, those things are gonna be useless. Grab some real guns."

Mark send a questioning glance towards his partner before John voiced his unasked question. "Sir, what do you mean by that?"

"A pulse wave, gentlemen. It'll fry any electronic equipment in the entire state. Bad news for the REDs seeing as they don't have a goddamn toilet that doesn't run on power," the decorated officer quickly responded with an air of smugness. "Once the weapon's activated, we've got backup out of range from the pulse wave that'll move in to clean house."

An unseen smirk passed over the two soldiers lips as they gently glanced towards the other. The blast would still take out the interface system in their armors, but this wouldn't be too much of a problem since unlike some of the more high end suits that were in development their suits were made more for protection than augmentation. There was hope, and if everything went according to plan the R.E.D. wouldn't know what hit'em. With a salute to their superior, the two quickly made their way out as John gave the command for the others to trade in their weapons through through the communications system as they made their way towards the equipment tent. A glance off into the distance showed that the rest of the company was nearly there as well. Good, they were going to need all the help they could get.

"Gale, we're gonna need the Pathmaker over there on that hill," John instructed as he traded in his plasma pistol for a automatic riffle. "Take out their artillery and give these soldiers some rest."

"Yeeeeeeehhheeeew! That sounds like my kind of party!"

Driving up towards the near by hill just overlooking the battlefield, the Pathmaker quickly went to work on living up to its name as it started firing powerful energy charges towards their offending targets.

"_Hopefully that would give their soldiers a bit of breathing room,_" John thought as he and Mark moved out towards their marked objective, Echo company quickly breaking off as they went to defend their individual points.

As they assessed the situation from their position, things didn't look good. The initial troops stationed here had taken quite a few casualties it seemed, and with the full force of the RED army breathing down their necks things didn't seem to be in their favor. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Holy shit," Mark muttered in an attempt to lighten the mood. "It seems impossible that the north district actually lasted this long. Look at all this, the R.E.D. have the full technological advantage and yet we're holding them back with small arms? … Forty bucks says I kill more."

Despite himself, John couldn't help but chuckle a little bit even as he saw the enemies heavy equipment equipped soldiers coming over the top of the hill, dead set on wiping out the remaining defense. Seemed as though they were saving the bulk of their invasion force for that last push to central.

"$100 if I do, by sun down." He might have sounded crazy, but no matter how insane the odds were John wasn't planning on dieing today.

Fastening a magazine into his military grade automatic riffle, Mark gave a light chuckle. "You're on, Johnny boy."

The battle seemed to pass by in a blur as the setting sun started to crest towards the horizon, the all encompassing rattling of their automatic riffles filling their ears as they fired at their opponents with abandoned disregard. The Pathmaker back at the front's handiwork was becoming apparent as it picked off large clusters of enemy units every few seconds, its blast taking out most of the guys they really had to worry about. Apparently it'd already gotten rid of the Artillery. Good, that was just one thing less to worry about.

Emboldened by the fact their enemies were using old weapons, some of the R.E.D. soldiers started to get cocky and tried to break through the defense without support. This quickly proved to be their last mistake as they were met with a hail of bullets. Their armor was strong, almost as strong as the U.N.S.'s suits, but at such a range it made it almost child's play to place a well aimed shot through the opponents weak points with the scopes on their weapons. In short, all they managed to get from their efforts was a hail of bullets.

"89!" Mark quickly called out as the sun finally met the horizon, quickly sniping off one more before making the call.

"92!" John retorted, his eyes trained attentively through the scope of his riffle.

"What? You son of a bitch, when the hell did that happen?"

"About 3 minutes ago, I got two REDs with one bullet."

"... Bullshit John, bullshit."

"You always do that whenever I'm winning at something. Every time I'm pulling ahead, you call bullshit."

"Because it's never true. I _always_ win."

"Now_ that's_ bullshit. I expect that money by tomorrow."

"Hah hah! Shut the hell up," Mark retorted with a chuckle.

The team wasn't really sure how, but they seemed to be holding the R.E.D. off without much of a problem. Whether it was lady luck smiling on them, or the enemy just underestimating them. Whatever the case, the two soldiers didn't really care. Just so long as they didn't have something up their sleeves.

Their joy was quickly cut short though as three R.E.D. transport ships started to fly in. Without the proper artillery or air support, there was no way they could take them down as two machines dropped down from each, their hulking forms kicking up a storm of dust as they landed. As it cleared, the sight gave the seasoned soldiers cause to pause. _These_ were new, and with their monstrous forms it was probably the ace up their sleeves everyone had been fearing. Standing upon two legs connected to a heavily armored cockpit, the almost humanoid shaped creations of science boasted two immense arm that were lined with cannons, most likely artillery based. If that wasn't enough, they had two larger ones on the shoulders and a main cannon on its back.

The muzzle of Mark's weapon lowered a little bit as he gave a gawking stare at the monstrosities before them, any trace of humor leaving his voice. "Uh, John?"

"Yeah, I don't know either," John muttered, before his hand quickly shot up to the side of his helmet as he activated the COM system. "Gale, fire at that one in the front!"

"You got it partner!"

The troops held their breath as the tip of the Pathmarker's cannon gave off a glow as it charged up before sending off a powerful bolt of burning blue plasma energy hurtling towards the machines.

John only had a moment to react as a blue shield quickly sprung up around the abomination of technology, shielding it from harm as it quickly trained its sights on Gale's vehicle with the multitude of cannons lining its arms.

"Gale, get out of there!"

Gale only had a few precious moments to jump out of the Pathmakers hatch before he made a dash for his life. With a thunderous roar, the cannons on the monster of a weapon rained numerous missiles on the tanks position, very nearly taking Gale with the explosion that followed before the remaining shots crashed against the once proud office building standing behind it. The sound of the building crashing to the ground was more than enough for the colonel's voice to sound over the COM system.

"Retreat, all you boys get the hell outta here! Head towards Central! Weapon or not, move, move, move!"

The street was in chaos as the U.N.S. Soldiers fled on foot for their lives. What was left of the transport vehicles were used to move the wounded, and the dead were left completely behind in the rising panic. The R.E.D. didn't seem like they were planning on letting them get off this easy as they sent missile after missile into their routed foes ranks, creating a multitude of explosions as the now bloodied, broken, and burnt bodies to the ground. Those that were lucky, or rather unlucky enough to survive the initial blast wouldn't survive for very long though. A multitude of the buildings managed to absorb some of the rounds, but it was but they collapsed after only a single shot. Things were turning bad, very bad.

Mark was moving a few paces ahead of John as the two ran down the main road, smoke and flying debris being kicked up menacingly behind them as all the soldiers tried to get away from the oncoming vehicles of destruction. A few of the soldiers stumbled a bit in their movement, the fatigue of the battle finally catching up to them as they fell to the ground only to be picked up by one of their comrades. Through it all though, John managed to catch something from a soldier next as a voice filtered in through his communication device.

"Hello, anyone alive out there up north? This is central, come in north," the static filled message said, causing the soldier to quickly press his finger against the side of his helm.

"Yeah, we're still alive!"

"Situation soldier?"

"All hell's breaking loose. The Colonel ordered a full retreat after contact with unidentified R.E.D. tech. If you can see the buildings falling, you can see what we're up against. We are retreating to your position from the main road!"

There was a short pause in the return transmission. "I was to inform your commanding officer to order a retreat, but since that is already happening I'll tell you that the weapon is operational. Keep moving to our position soldier, the activation commences in 20 seconds.

"Yes sir," the soldier commented before switching his COM to their deployed forces personal encrypted channel. The voice quickly sprung up in the helmets of all the soldiers around. "Hey guys, the weapon's gonna fire in 20 seconds!"

"Won't do much good if we're dead! Keep running," another soldier quickly called right back, the amount of apprehension he was in almost tangible on his voice.

John silently counted down the seconds as he ran with the rest of his comrades, hoping that they'd be lucky enough to actually get out of this mess alive. They just had to stay alive for a few more seconds, that was all! It was with a feeling of cold terror then that a stray missile managed to hit one of the buildings ahead of them, sending it crashing down as it both blocked off their only escape route and sending a mountain slide of debris over the troops lucky enough to be crushed under its crumbling form. That cold feeling in his throat seemed to plummet into his throat though as Mark, who was only a few feet ahead of him, was struck hard by a few stray pieces of debris, quickly knocking him to the ground unconscious.

"**Mark!**"

John quickly ran towards his downed friend, only managing to kneel next to him before the tower in the distance that marked the central region of the city lit up before it threw out a blinding white light that quickly enveloped them.

As the light faded, so too did John's vision.

Eyes snapping open, the sore soldier very nearly shot up from his position on the metallic operating table before he took notice of his surroundings. From the multitude of automated arms situated above him, least of all the one that was busily shining a light in his eyes, he could only assume that he was in the medical bay of his ship. The nearly horrific events that took place in his dreams helped drive most of the grogginess out of him, but with the last remaining remnants of sleep clinging to him he couldn't for the life of him remember how he got here.

"I see you're awake, sir," an all too familiar voice commented, it's typical snarky attitude laced with something akin to relief. "Welcome back to the world of the living."

"Al... w-what the- **Agh!**" Moving to push himself up as he tried to process what was going on, John's sudden movement was quickly rewarded with a sharp pain through his newly healed shoulder and leg. If nothing else, it was enough to drive the last traces of sleep out of the stranded soldiers system and give his memory of the fight he had with those... _things_ a jump start. He could only grit his teeth as he lowered himself back to the table, his uninjured arm carefully reaching around as he gave his heavily bruised side a delicate rub.

"Hmm, I see the pain hasn't subsided yet. There's some morphine on the tray to your right, go ahead and take it."

Glancing over towards his right John quickly identified the indicated vial of morphine and the syringe waiting patiently beside it. It took a bit of work, but he eventually managed to get the needle filled up without jostling his freshly healed wounds too much. Even then, they still felt like a burning pike was embedded in both of them. As he finally injected himself with the merciful drug, he couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh as it slowly made its way through his system.

"Ahh, now that's much better," John muttered to himself as he slowly pushed himself up. While the healing solution had taken care of most of the injuries earlier, there were still a lot of minor tears in his arm that needed time to repair so he did his best not to move them too much... for the moment at least. Now that that was taken care of, he could focus on what was really important. "So, what happened?"

"Well, don't you remember sir?"

He paused for a moment as he wracked his brain for something, but in the end all he could do was shake his head. "The only thing I remember was my bones getting chewed on, then... nothing."

"Well first off, you were attacked by manticores."

"Manti-what now," John returned, slowly turning towards the helmet that was situated just across from him. He couldn't help but give it a questioning look.

"Manticores. They're beasts indigenous only to this forest apparently, which is called the Everfree Forest. That's what the girls told me, at least."

"Alright Al, now you're just raising more questions. What girls?"

John's computerized companion gave what sounded like a sigh at this. If he had a body of his own, John would've imagined he was giving him a rather disappointed face palm right about now. "How do you not remember? One of them jumped right in front of you when you were beating that manticore into mush."

"Hmm," he hummed a little bit, trying once more to call up any memories after that point he blacked out. The result was no better than his last attempt. "Nope, not ringing any bells over here."

"Regardless sir, I believe you should rest. It's still night, and you've been unconscious for around 3 hours. I'll explain everything in the morning, and your body still needs to recuperate."

Giving a small grunt in acknowledgment, John started walking out of the med room with a bit of a limp in his step. After everything he'd been through and that one hell of a flashback of a dream, he was more than ready to get a real nights sleep.

"Do you still feel pain, sir?"

"Only a bit.. Anyway, I'm going to the pilots quarters. See ya in the morning Al."

Uhh, sir there's something you should know about your quarters," Allegiance tried to call out to his quickly departing commander, but it seemed as though the pilot either didn't hear him or wasn't in the mood for anymore small talk. "Sir?"

Whether it was the need for a bed or how far he'd already walked, the tired pilot didn't hear the AI as he made his way down the hall towards his room. As he pressed the button next to his quarters he honestly expected to see nothing but his warm, inviting bed waiting for him to lay down and get some actual rest. What he didn't expect to see, however, were 6 small, pastel colored equines laying around the room in blissful sleep. Two of them were occupying his bed, while the rest were laying on a few folded up spare blankets he kept lying around. If there was any residual sleepiness from his impromptu awakening, it was gone as he took in the sight before him with a sense of wonder, and maybe a bit of incredulity.

If the fact this planet seemed to have such unbelievably varied colored horses-no, ponies on this planet wasn't enough, the fact there were actually what appeared to be two unicorns _and _two pegasi, both creatures of myth. Heck, even if that wasn't enough to stretch the imagination one of them actually seemed to have a cowboys hat!

Taking a few moments to simply take the sight in, John finally pressed the button next to his door again as it slid shut with a soft mechanical squeaking. As his mind tried to rationalize what he just saw, his feet were already leading him back towards the main chamber of the ships first floor.

Walking into the spacious medical bay, he pointed over his shoulder back the way he came. "The girls I presume?"

"Yes sir, that would be them. I was going to tell you, but you walked out of here before I could."

"Hmmph, wonderful," he muttered tiredly, a note of annoyance in his voice as he tried to tackle this new problem. Seeing as they'd most likely been the only reason he actually survived that little ordeal, he definitely owed them one. At the same time though, that brought with it a small, more immediate problem.

"Well, where the hell am I gonna sleep?"

"On the floor, where you belong sir?"

"Well, I'm glad to see you still have that attitude of yours.."

"Have a pleasant night sir," Al quickly responded with a note of mirth in his voice as he quickly switched himself to sleep mode, leaving John technically alone.

"Ass.. I guess I'll just sleep on this table."

John couldn't help but sigh a little bit as he slid back underneath the machinery, the rather flimsy cushioning of its cot like surface doing little to hide the hard metallic surface underneath. As a yawn managed to escape his lips though, he had to admit that it was better than sleeping on the floor at least. As his eyes slowly slide close though, he couldn't help but wonder how the next day would go. More importantly, how would these new creatures react when they finally met face to face?

Comfort and misgivings aside, John quickly found himself succumbing to the sweet embrace of sleep.

Al soon went into sleep mode leaving John to go about looking for a place to sleep.

…...

**Chapter two hope you're still enjoying this as much as I am. This chapt was a bit shorter than the last but w/e. Off topic here but did anyone else notice that star wars reference at the end of part 2 I did indeed lol, also Discord just dun derped but he's still better than nightmare moon in my book just sayin'.**

**One final thing! Why was Luna not there? She was only just mentioned Y THEY NO LOVE LUNA D:?**

**k guys see you next chapter.**

**AN 11-8-11:**

**Well there's another revised version of my story I hope you guys are being patient while waiting for chapter four. Again I would love it if more of you reviewed these revised chapters! **

**Also wow 12k words on this new version xD!**

**Love HcHaiku.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Odd Acquaintance**

John was still asleep when the sun came up, it shined through the windows of the ship hitting him in the face. He groaned then opened his eyes to find his suit helmet right in front of him.

"Good morning sir, have a nice sl-"

"Ah! Holy shit Al, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with _you_? I didn't expect you to jump at the sight of a harmless helmet."

"A helmet no, but a helmet that was across the room last night then suddenly moved next to me yes."

"No reason to act so frightful, besides we have guests if you didn't remember."

John slowly got up and sat on the table he looked behind to see the six from last night staring at him. A bit apprehensive he thought out of what to say. "W_ell lets see here, six equine like aliens. Okay lets take it slow."_

"Hello?"

Twilight noticed his hazel eyes, they were an odd shade, the irises seemed to slightly glow. She was about to ask but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie who jumped in front of the group and placed her hoofs at the edge of the metal table.

"Hi, who are you? What are you? Where are you from? The sky? Are you an alien! I'm Pinkie Pie best party pony in Ponyville, I saw a big pink explosion last night it was like Rainbow dash's sonic rainboom but all pink, so I went to Twilight! Then we saw this thingy fall out of the sky and went BOOSH and fell all the way over here was that you, huh!"

Surprised that the pink horse decided to shut up instead of continuing her constant rambling he thought to himself.

"_So much for slow."_

"Okay. My name is John, and yes that was my ship falling out of the sky also that pink explosion was because of me. Would you mind answering me a question now, where am I and what are you? "

"That's two questions, silly!"

Pinkie was about to answer his questions but was stopped by Twilight Sparkle.

"This is Equestria, but more specifically this is the Everfree forest. We are ponies, I am Twilight Sparkle these are my friends Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, you already met Pinkie Pie. You didn't answer Pinkie's questions, what are you and where are you from?"

"_Those are weird ass names, those are the kind of names you give to a dog, then again those are bad even by dog standards."_

"I'm a human, and I'm from the planet Earth, now from what Al told me all of you saved my life, thank you I appreciate your assistance. If you would excuse me I have business to attend to, you can walk with me if you have anymore questions."

John got up from the table. Twilight noticed how tall he was compared to her and the rest of the ponies, he was roughly twice their size about the same size as Celestia. He picked up Al and the suit then walked out the room, the ponies followed.

The hallway was filled with exposed wires with sparks flying out of each. It was dimly lit, most of the lights had broken. Even after their stay the girls were still in awe at the.

"Where are we going?" Twilight asked.

"Well _I'm_ going to put some clothes on. I'm freezing my ass off here in just my underwear, anything else you want to ask me?"

"Do all humans look like you, why don't you have any fur on your body, well except for the tiny brown patch on your head?"

"Well I'm five foot ten and, a bit on the medium side in size compared to other men of my race. We don't have fur all over us because we wear clothes to keep us warm, and no we all don't look the same there are different races of human with different skin color, hair, and eyes."

"Men?"

"That's what we call gown up males on our planet, what do you call them?"

"Colts."

"Of course."

He looked at the suit it was missing two big chunks on the shoulder and leg.

"Fucking hell, the bite force on those things is amazing. Made to survive in the wild my ass."

"Yes it was not made for that type of punishment, oh humans and their lack of foreseeing events such as this."

"You insulting my species' tech Al?

"It would seem obvious, to the slightly intelligent."

"Well you know what's great? Your file corruption is causing you to act even more human, so eventually you'll make the same errors."

The helmet was silent for a few moments as John grinned Al spoke. "That is a horrid thought sir, but if that would ever come to reality you would be dead in a weeks time without my flawless calculations."

"Heh, whatever."

Twilight asked. "So, what is this thing anyway?"

"It's my ship I use it to fly across space."

"Wow, I thought this was just a meteorite when I saw it crashing down last night."

"Is that right? Well I can see how you would see it like that."

They stopped in front of the pilot's quarters John opened the door and walked inside he walked to a small closet after tossing Al and the suit onto the bed.

"Would you mind if you all stayed out here while I change?"

Rarity spoke up before anyone else could. "No, go ahead deary everyone needs their privacy."

With that John closed the door.

As soon as the door closed Rainbow Dash spoke in a hushed tone. "Can we go? I don't trust this guy for one second, we saved his life now we don't need to hang around here anymore."

"He seems well mannered, aside from his use of language, I don't believe he want's to cause us any harm." Rarity interjected.

"Ever thought he was just acting nice, he might be evil for all we know!"

"Rarity's right Rainbow, he's alright no need to jump to any conclusions. Don't you think if he was evil he would have attacked us as soon as he woke up?"

"Hmph, as soon as he does something wrong his flank is mine."

Inside the room John talked to Allegiance while taking clothes out from his bag.

"You seemed very calm and collected sir while talking to the girls."

"I didn't want to cause a panic. Now, what did you learn about them Al?"

"They are completely innocent, but if you want to know the ones with the horns have telekinetic powers when you were unconscious the purple one, Miss Sparkle, used her power and purple aura surrounded you as you were lifted off the ground. I was surprised to say the least. The ones with the wings are self explanatory, they just fly, and the ponies with neither wings nor horns have no special abilities whatsoever."

"That all?"

"Why are you being so cautious sir? You seemed to be fine around them when you woke up."

"These are new life forms that I've never seen before. Sorry if the last alien race we met nearly killed mine five hundred years ago, then came back? You should know that Al we can't be to careful."

"Well I understand were you are coming from sir, but they do not even look like they have the technological knowledge to even challenge this downed ship."

John sighed and dragged his hand down his face. "So, did you learn anything else or not?"

"That is everything that I could gather by observing, I did not want to prod."

"So you're a complete gentlemen to them but not to me? Al, I'm hurt."

"Good, now get dressed."

The girls were talking to each other as the door slid open, John stepped out. He was wearing a black short sleeved shirt that wrapped around his biceps, which had a U.S.N label on the left sleeve, it had small streaks of white on the sides that ran down to a black belt. His pants were cargo pants, but they still fit tightly, they had the same design as the shirt. The streaks of white both going down the its outer thighs but stopped at the knees the rest of the way down was black and so were his boots.

"A little tight, but better than being almost naked."

"My my, who is your designer, that outfit fits you perfectly."

"I appreciate the complement, but I have no designer these are standard U.N.S casual clothes."

"Well they have good taste, all they need to do is add a couple of gems also lose the dark colors it looks so depressing."

"Okay?"

Al, still in the room, spoke up from behind john. "Do you know what's a brilliant idea, get to know your saviors sir, and thank them one at a time! Go ahead show the gratitude that these young ladies deserve!

John turned and gave a perplexed look back at the helmet. One pony in particular thought it was an amazing idea, Pinkie Pie, she bounced in front of John and said.

"That's a super idea! I'll go first!"

"Enjoy yourselves."

The last thing John saw in the pilots quarters was the helmet facing the door, he imagined it having a full blown smile when he glared back at it as the door slid to close.

Trying his hardest not to run back into the pilots quarters and beating the helmet senseless, or pull the suit's powercell out and put an end to the vile artificial intelligence once and for all. John was interested in these new sentient lifeforms, at first, but the hyperactive pink pony that wouldn't shut up was dulling his interests increasingly quickly.

"And that's how Equestria was made."

"Wait, what?" John asked as he was snapped out of his stupor.

"Were you even listening? Now I have to start aaall over again."

"No! I mean no, I just didn't get the last parts. Tell me again, what do you do exactly besides being a party planer?"

"Weeeeell I'm a assistant baker at Sugarcube Corner, I help mister and misses Cake bake things! Like cupcakes, cakes, pies, muffins, cookies, gingerbread men, gingerbread _houses, _gingerbread_ villages _and a bunch of other delicious treats!"

"So you're a pastry chef?"

"Yeah! Sorta, hey! Want a cupcake? I made them for the long trip we ate a few on the way, well by we I meant me! So want one huh, huh?

"Uhh sure, why the not."

Pinkie hopped across the room were she had left her saddlebag, she grabbed a cupcake and zoomed back to were John was sitting she then gave the cupcake to John. He inspected it, it was pink, of course, with blue sprinkles on it. It was small so John ate it whole his eyes widened as the flavor kicked in Pinkie Pie watched with hopeful eyes as John swallowed, or tried to swallow the cupcake. After a rather difficult time of getting it down he swallowed the cupcake he blinked as his eyes watered a bit.

"So, did you like it?"

"Oh my god...that was.. eugh."

Pinkie Pie's eyes flopped down as she heard John's reaction. "Oh so you didn't like it..."

John put his hand up to stop Pinkie Pie from talking as he composed himself. "N...no it was good, but holy shit was that thing sweet it felt like I was eating solid diabetes... oh my god."

"Whats dyeabeetees?"

"It's not good lets just say that, I think we're done here Pinkie Pie nice talking to ya, and thank you."

"Byeee."

John walked through the room he then sat in front of Rarity and thought for a moment. _"I don't think eating that cupcake was a very good idea. Alright, none of that shit anymore. Okay John ask what they do, do a little of chatting and get on to the next one, faster the better."_

"You are Rarity right?"

Rarity kept a calm and dignified answer. "Yes you may call me Miss, or Miss Rarity if you like."

"So, what do you do?"

"I am Ponyville's own fashion designer. I design many clothes for mares and colts, but I would love to make a outfit for you."

"That sounds interesting, but I'll have to decline Miss Rarity."

"Why? I am more than confident in my ability to make anything fabulous!"

"And that's what I'm afraid of, so is making clothes a good business? I mean it doesn't seem like you ponies wear clothes, ever."

"We do wear clothes, on special occasions, and it is most definitely a good business I have sold many dresses to famous fashion designers and stars."

"So you're wealthy huh?"

"A lady does not talk about such things, but if you must know, I do well for myself."

"Okay I didn't want to ask Pinkie Pie this because of her constant rambling and derailing conversations but, what's with the tattoos?"

"Tattoos?"

"The mark on your ass."

"This is not a 'tattoo' it is a cuttiemark a symbol of what a pony is truly good at, their special talent."

"Really? So your cuttiemark signifies fashion?" The idea of a mark stating your true talent was incredibly... odd to say the least.

"Yes in a way."

"Well alright then. I think I got everything I can get here, it was a pleasure goodbye and thank you."

"likewise."

"_Good that was, short, simple, and got straight to the point no problem at all. Okay now lets see who this Fluttershy is."_

John walked up to Fluttershy she seemed to be discomforted, hiding herself in her mane and when John sat down she made an 'eep' sound.

"Hello?"

Fluttershy just stared at him then quickly looked back down with her mane in her face.

"You okay there?"

She continued to stay quite while shuffling her hoofs.

"_Well this seems like a goddamn dead end, is she socially awkward or something? Ah hence the name flutter'shy' okay lets try this."_

John scooted a bit closer to her it only seemed to make her even more nervous.

"The last thing I remember yesterday before I went unconscious was some yellow figure helping me following Al's instructions. I didn't want to tell him I knew because he has a thing for being an ass to me, and it would kill the guy if he knew I remembered his efforts in saving my life. But it was you wasn't it? If you don't feel like talking that's fine, just know that I thank you the most for saving my life."

John began to walk away when he heard a soft voice say "Your welcome." he continued to walk and looked for another pony to talk to.

"_She seemed nice, timid as hell, but alright. So we've got Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. A cowboy...huh."_

He walked to Applejack she was the first to talk. "Howdy yer names John right?"

"My god, you have Gale's accent." He chuckled at the resemblance.

"Ahh who now?"

"Just an old friend of mine anyway, nice to meet you Applejack."

"The feelin's mutual, now what do ya wanna know?"

"Ehh what do you do for a living?"

"Ah run a farm called 'Sweet apple acres'."

"Let me guess, an apple farm?"

"Y'all are mighty quick, anythin' else?"

"What's your cuttiemark mean?"

"Runnin' the farm basically."

"Straight up farm pony huh?"

"Born n' raised."

"So you seem to be the only one wearing something, tell me what's with the hat?"

Appljack removed her hat and showed it to John.

"Mah pappy gave me this here hat when he left the farm ta me, ah keep it with me at all times."

"Oh so you own this farm? All by yourself?"

"Nah ah got mah granny and brother ta help me out with the farm."

"Well that's nice how the whole family pitches in."

"Well not mah _whole _family, the Apple family is huge, we're spread all over Equestria runnin' farms. We have a little get together once a yeah ta catch up."

"Wow seems like a good time, anyway I gotta move on to the next two, it was fun and thank you Applejack."

"No worries partner."

John just scooted to the left because the next pony he was going to talk to was Rainbow Dash and she was just a few feet from Applejack. John noticed through out the whole experience she was watching him.

"Hey."

Rainbow Dash seemed very chill she just looked away and said. "Hey."

"So...what do you do?"

"Weather pony, I make sure the clouds are clear and place them when we need a storm."

"Wait you control the weather?"

"Yeah, so what nothing special about it."

"Nothing special? You control the weather and can actually touch clouds, they're just water do you use your hoofs to do it?"

"Yeah what else are we gonna use to move them?"

John sighed, and stared at Rainbow Dash. "You don't like me very much do you?"

"Nope."

"Thought as much. I noticed you staring at me when I walked around the room to talk to the other ponies, so tell me what gives?"

"What gives? You're an alien! You might have the rest of the girls fooled but not me, I don't trust you one bit. You could be some invader coming to enslave all of pony kind!"

John gave Rainbow Dash a deadpanned look. "Really? You really think that? I may have the technology to bring this world to it's knees, but I'm not that type of guy I ended up here by accident. Even if I wanted to enslave all of you I would have done it as soon as I woke up."

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment Twilight told her this before, maybe he wasn't evil but she had to protect her friends from what ever happens even if John seems okay he still can't be trusted.

"Take it from a guy who actually experienced aliens trying to take over his race."

"Wait you have?"

"Yeah, but that's something I'd rather not discuss right now, maybe some other time. Anyway you wanna get this over with?"

"Yeah sure, why not."

"Okay then what's your cuttiemark mean?"

Rainbow Dash lightened up a bit when John was interested in her cuttiemark she flew up near the ceiling and said.

"This means I'm the best flier in all of Ponyville!"

"So you race? How fast can you go?"

"So fast that I made a sonic rainboom."

"What the hell is that like a sonic boom?"

"A what? Anyway it's like a big explosion but rainbow colored and I go so fast that my tail shines and make rainbow colors fly out of it, and I'm the first one to ever do it."

"Nice, but that's slow as hell compared to what this baby can do."

"What? This hunk of junk doesn't even look like it can fly."

"Well this 'hunk of junk' can fly the length of this planet 10 times in thirty seconds."

"Pff sounds like a bunch of lies to me."

"I don't need to argue with someone who has no knowledge of this type of technology."

"Some'_pony_' you mean."

"I'm just gonna say some'_one_'."

The two glared at each other for a moment, until Rainbow Dash broke the silence.

"Is that all you gonna ask? I'm getting tired talking to you."

"Yeah, I think I'm done here."

John turned around and walked away until he was stopped by a hoof on his shoulder. "Don't you have to say something to me fly boy?"

"Ugh, thank you."

"There you go."

He thought to himself asking "_Why am I doing this? I could have just kicked all these ponies the hell out of my ship, but no I gotta be a fucking nice guy about all this."_ He sat down in front of the last pony Twilight Sparkle who was reading a book.

"Alright you, lets get this over with."

"Hi."

"Yeah hey, what do you do for a living?"

"I run a library."

He was still irritated form his conversation with Rainbow Dash he just wanted to get this all over with. So he sat there with his right hand on his chin, hunched, staring bleakly at Twilight.

"Sounds boring as fuck."

"Please don't use that kind of language."

"Listen in the past twenty four hours my life has gone to shit, even more than it was before, so the last thing I want is some goddamn pony telling me I can't use foul language okay?"

John sat there staring at Twilight who just looked at him in slight shock, he took a deep breath trying to calm himself down once he was calm he talked once again with a much calmer tone.

"Alright I'm sorry about that it's just that I am extremely stressed out here with all the sh- I mean things that has happened to me, so how is running a library?"

"Thank you, well I love books and studying many different things, so running a library is a perfect job for me to do."

"So what's this, a book? I've never seen a real book before."

Twilight got up in surprise at what she just heard. "You never seen a book before?"

"Yeah, the human race once used these, but now we use data files. The remaining books left are kept in museums. So what's this you're reading?"

John picked up the book and read the title. "Extraterrestrials and you a reference guide to avoid imminent destruction." John cocked an eyebrow and stared at Twilight.

"Well... when I saw this ship fall out of the sky I went to gather the rest of the girls. After me and the girls all met Pinkie said it might have been an alien! So I grabbed this book before we left to look for it, you can never be to careful."

John chuckled about what was in the book. "If I was here for your 'imminent destruction' following this book would have made it extremely easy to do so."

"Well I thought as much, but at least it's great for passing the time."

"I guess, so what's your cuttiemark supposed to mean?"

"Well it means that my special talent is magic."

Giving a confused look John stared for a moment and asked. "Magic? There's no such thing as magic, I mean, when Al told me you used telekinesis I thought he just didn't see a device on you. You see we have technology that does that as well, but your telling me it's magic? That's just unbelievable."

"Would you like to see?"

"Yes."

Twilight concentrated on the book in Johns hands, her horn glowed and the book glowed as well for a moment it moved and there was a flash of light. He looked in amazement the book he was holding before, was now a plant in a pot.

"How the hell...how is this possible?"

"Magic." Twilight said in a cheery tone liking John's reaction to her magic.

"But that's impossible, magic's not supposed to exist."

"Well maybe not on your planet but here it does and we use it for almost anything."

John thought for a moment longer and put his attempts at tying to make sense of it aside. This entire planet doesn't make sense so why try. He began to get up.

"Alright I'll buy that for now, anyway I think I learned enough-"

"Wait what about you? What do you do?"

The ponies in the room scooted together wanting to know more about John. He Turned back to see them sitting side by side looking at him, so he sat back down.

"I'm a soldier, but more specifically a pilot."

"A pilot, what's that?"

"I fly and fight with ships like these."

"You fight? That's awful do you hurt anyone?"

"Yes fighting with these usually leads to someone getting hurt, or dead I did it nearly everyday."

The group of ponies looked shocked at how John said that he didn't seem to be bothered. He looked at the confused.

"What?"

"How can you talk about killing somepony else so calmly."

"Well first of all the things I kill aren't ponies, or humans. They're something completely different. Brutal, hostile, merciless things that attacked my planet a long time ago and nearly killed off my entire race."

"But killing is wrong no matter what it is."

John laughed for a few seconds and it soon went to a chuckle. "That's got to be the most naïve thing I've ever heard. So what do you think we should have done? Rolled over and tell them to stop nicely while they were ripping out our organs? Listen I know maybe on this planet it's all happiness and sunshine flying out of your asses, but on mine we have to fight and kill if not the people we want to protect will die."

The girls even more shocked than they were before wondering what kind of horrible place John came from were he could talk about killing so nonchalantly, Twilight spoke out again.

"But, couldn't there be a peaceful solution?"

John sighed. _"How dense can these ponies be? Have they never had a war before?"_

"No, and if there was we would have done it a long time ago. Sometimes looking for a peaceful solution is right but, sometimes action has to be taken if there are no more options and they sure as hell made it clear that peaceful negotiations were out of the question."

Fluttershy spoke up with a very soft tone " Um..I think...we should stop talking about this."

Rarity took her side and spoke up as well. "Yes she's right this subject is much too grim and depressing."

The rest of the girls agreed to changing the subject so John just sat there until Twilight asked another question.

"So John, were you always a soldier?"

"No, I was a student at a university before I was drafted."

"Really, I was also student at a university studying under princess Celestia."

"Studying magic?"

"Yes! How did you know?"

"Seemed obvious, and princess Celestia?"

"Yes she's the ruler of Equestria."

"Wow, so you're under a monarchy?"

"Don't think she rules with an iron hoof or anything, she is very kind and loving."

"Hmm anyway, I think we should end this little getting to know each other thing. All I had to do was thank you all and I do, sincerely, but I have many things to do."

"Like what?"

"Well for one I'm starving, and before you offer Pinkie no I don't want those. Has anyone seen my survival pack?"

All the girls in the room looked at Fluttershy. "Oh.. um I left it in the room over there."

He turned and walked into the pilots quarters and there it was propped up next to the bed.

"So sir, did you have heartfelt conversations?"

"Shut up Al."

John opened the survival pack and pulled put the rations and grabbed Allegiance and the suit then walked out the room. There he moved to the down the ship while eating the rations which were in bar form, the ponies followed.

Pinkie Pie hopped next to him, curious, she asked "Hey! Does that taste good?"

"It's alright, want a piece?"

Pinkie nodded enthusiastically John broke a piece off and tossed it to her, she opened her mouth and began to chew.

"Blegh! That tastes like wood!"

"Ha, yeah you get use to it after a while."

"I don't want to.. icky."

They all continued down the hall and reached the end of the ship were a door was. Over it was a sign that said 'tech & maintenance ' John stopped, opened it, and walked inside he said "Wait out here, I won't be long."

The door closed behind him and the ponies were left to wait again, they heard John say "There we go." then there was some more noise. The door slid open to reveal a metal creature covered and black and gray similar in design to John's casual wear it growled at them, the girls screamed out and the creature pressed it's neck and it's head began to come apart making a hissing sound to reveal John.

"Woah, woah calm down. Just a joke hah no need to scream your heads off."

Rarity ran up to John and put her hoof on him. "How rude, and you led me to believe you were well mannered, but just look at what you did to poor Fluttershy!" 

John turned to see her hiding behind Rainbow Dash looking over her trembling a little. He walked to her and knelt down, he shrugged at Rainbow Dash who was glaring at him.

"Hey, sorry about that I didn't know I would have scared you this much, won't happen again okay?"

Fluttershy still looked scared but stopped her trembling, she looked up and nodded.

Twilight walked up to John who had gotten up and asked. "Why are you wearing that?"

"Man it's a thousand questions with you isn't it? This is a maintenance suit, much bulkier than the survival suit it's made for protecting against moderate explosions and electrocution. I have to put my pilots maintenance training to the test and see what I have to fix in this ship, but first I have to do something for Al."

"What do you need to do for me sir?"

"You'll see."

He walked back into the room and pulled out a circular looking object. John and the ponies began to walk to down the hallway and went up some stairs and stopped in from of another door.

"You girls can come if you want."

With that the ponies walked into the small room which had boxes on the walls, they were flickering, some had black, white, and gray dots all over them. On the floor there were broken chairs. John walked to the box at the very end of the room.

"_Thank you sis for making them bolt down everything, could of saved the chairs though."_

Twilight walked next to John and was about to ask him a question but she was interrupted by him.

"Let me guess you gonna ask me what this is? It's a computer, used for many things by normal people and people in the military. It is mainly used to send out and receive information, and a lot of other different things."

John placed the suit on the table he took a wire from the suit's arm and connected it to the computer, then he took a wire from the circular object and connected it to the computer. He began to touch it with his fingers as different images popped up.

"Wait! Your not going to upload me into tha- zzzzzzzAAAHHH!"

The circular object began to light up and shot up in the air with a yell.

"ZZAAHHHH, THAT! Al composed himself and began to talk again. "That, was highly unnecessary I could have done that myself with less excruciating pain."

"Al! You should know the suit's hard drive was damaged and the only thing you could have done was talk don't be silly."

"The suit's hard drive was perfectly fi-."

John grabbed Al and whispered. "That's payback for the shit you did to me."

"So this is the game we are going to be partaking in I see."

"Yep."

John pulled Al away and said out loud.

"Al you should be thanking me look how good your new body is."

Al hovered to a dark screen and looked at himself he was dark gray with a large eye which was green at the center.

"I enjoyed it better when I was the most advanced ship in the U.N.S."

"Quit your whining, now I need you to do me a favor."

"You have the audacity to forcibly upload me into this body and now you are asking a favor? Why should I assist you after that?"

"Because Al you told me your prime directive is to assist any U.N.S employees in times of need." John grinned and leaned on the wall with his arms crossed.

Al's eye narrowed. "What do you require, lieutenant?"

"I need you to do a full status report on this ship, and check if it can at least hover."

Al said nothing and flew up to the door, he turned and said. "May I have someone's assistance over here?"

"Open it yourself."

"I lack the limbs to do so."

"No you don't, feel around."

Al did and two black arms exited two holes below his eye they each had three fingers.

"Well then, I still hate you."

Al pressed the button and hovered out.

Applejack approached John."Do y'all normally act that way toward each other?"

"Well as of yesterday, yes."

"That jus' seems like y'all are aren't even friends."

"Just because some people do bad things to each other doesn't mean they aren't good friends."

"What?"

"I guess it's better to show you, come on."

John walked back to the pilots quarters he walked to a bag were a little pack was found he opened it and puled out a small flat rectangular device.

"Here look at this. Oh and this is a PDA before _you _ask." He turned to Twilight, she responded with a sheepish smile.

John sat on the floor in front of the bed while the girls were on the edge of the bed. They watched as the PDA lit up and projected several images it was very small, John skimmed through a few of them and stopped he pressed the image and it turned black but started up again and a moving picture was seen.

"Let me make this bigger."

He pressed the screen and a large projection was shown clear in the air. They all saw younger looking John sleeping on a bed when another man showed up on the projection he was holding a bucket and soon other men showed up holding a large blanket. The one holding the bucket counted down and soon the men holding the blanket were on the sides of John's bed holding the blanket over him. Once the one with the bucket reached zero the two held the blanket down tightly and he dumped the water all over John. The water seemed very cold since it had ice cubes in it, John woke up with a scream. There was laughter filling the dark room, the prank was not over as the two men, with some other men who joined in, lifted the mattress up carried it and threw it outside where it was apparently snowing. The room filled with even more laughter as a cold, wet, and half naked John walked back he just shouted. "Assholes every single one of you fuckers, now who the hell is gonna get my mattress?" The projection ended.

The only ones who had the courtesy to not busting out laughing were Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity, but they suppressed their laughs to a snicker. While the rest were laughing their butts off. John was just chuckling.

He turned to Rainbow Dash who was still laughing and said. "I see you're lightening up."

She stopped her laughing and turned away. "It wasn't that funny."

"Yeah whatever."

He turned back to his PDA.

"That was when I was still in training, eleven years ago."

He started the video again and stopped at the point when the prank was going to start.

"You see the one holding the bucket that's my best friend Mark, the one on the left side of the bed is Jed, and the one to the right is Will. Yeah they're some real dumb asses, Mark was always the prankster. Here lets see this one."

Pinkie still laughing and snorting said. "I like Mark!"

"This is about two months ago we were transporting other recruits to a training facility in Nevada it was just Mark and me, he had his helmet camera on to catch this."

The projection started and there they were John and Mark sitting next to each other John was flying the ship, there was a lot of chatter in the background the helmet was behind them recording. Mark yawned and stretched to put his hand behind John. He was holding a small metal box he his thumb and a flame came out of it. It caught Johns uniform on fire, but he didn't notice. The recruits' chatter stopped as they saw the flame Mark turned to them making sure John didn't notice. He put his index finger to his mouth, Mark grabbed the helmet and pointed it at john he waited for a few seconds then shouted **"Oh my god John you're on fire!"**

John immediately took notice yelling "What the **fuck**?" He started to slap where the fire was coming from, the entire ship was moving up and down as John frantically tried to pat out the flame, John soon got rid of the flame.

Mark responded by saying."Holy shit man that was scary." Mark started to chuckle and soon went into a full laughter, so did the recruits, John was infuriated he punched Mark and pressed a certain button. The projection showed the entire ship moving down Mark was sent outside screaming and began to fall, the fall was stopped and Mark started to slowly descend he shouted at the ship. "John what the fuck! Learn to take a joke! You son of a bitch!" Mark moved his helmet to face him and said. "He better come back."And the projection ended.

All the ponies laughed this time and John was also laughing hard.

"So did you come back for him?" Pinkie Pie asked as she tried to settle herself.

"Yeah I came back for him, the next day. Anyway, that happens nearly every time we have a break from combat. To this day we're still the best of friends."

The door slid open as Allegiance hovered in. "Sir come to the bridge I am finished."

"Alright, fun's over lets go."

All of them walked up to the bridge were there was a flat model of the ship on a large screen.

"I have ran a full status diagnostic check and this is what is wrong and right, before you ask, miraculously the ship's hover systems are operational so is the last engine."

"Fucking amazing, finally some good news, what's the bad news?"

"Power, since the shields were kept up for the crash landing there is only twelve percent power now for the hover systems to use."

"Reroute the power from life support and drain the shields completely... and turn the AC off too."

"Very well we now have twenty eight percent power, more than enough."

"Good."

"What does this mean John?" Twilight asked.

"It means you wont have to spend hours walking back to your 'Ponyville' it's the least I can do for all of your help."

The rest of the girls smile at what they heard and Pinkie gave a big cheer.

"Lets go to the cockpit you might want to see this."

All of them walked to the cockpit John noticed the large hole in the windshield and the broken shock chair on the ground. "Huh, well look at that, good call Al."

"But of course, do I ever make bad ones?"

"Yeah, yeah, hey Twilight can you fix this?"

Twilight was about to agree but was cut off by Rarity. "I can handle that matter, here."

Rarity's horn glowed the chair was lifted off the ground and was repaired, she then gently placed it to it's proper position.

"Thanks, okay lets take it slow now."

John sat on the chair and began to press some buttons there was hissing coming from under the ship and the whole ship began to creak and move.

All the girls were shaken and wobbled as the ship moved. Twilight awkwardly walked to John and asked. "Uh John are you sure this can take us back to Ponyville?"

"Positive, she's still got some fight in her."

The ship slowly ascended into the air it was barely above the trees John turned to Twilight and asked "So where to?"

"North, straight ahead."

"North it is."

The rear engine powered up and propelled the ship forward, it creaked and flew toward Ponyville.

"Sir don't put to much stress on the engine I said it was operational, not running at one hundred percent efficiency."

"Can it do one hundred miles per hour at least?"

"In it's current condition this ship is on it's last legs sir, it can only achieve minimal thrust, my calculations say forty miles per hour at most."

"Fine by me."

The girls looked out the side window of the cockpit and saw the trees of the Everfree forest speed by as the ship continued forward Twilight turned around to talk to John.

"John this is amazing, how is this possible?"

"You ponies have magic, us humans have technology."

Rainbow Dash spoke up in a unimpressed tone "Eh, I can fly faster."

Al flew in front of Rainbow Dash. "Excuse me for interjecting, bu-."

"Al, Fly for me."

Alltook control of the ship actually enjoying the ability to actually touch things while John stepped off the chair and leaned to the left of it then faced Rainbow Dash.

"Listen this ship is flying with a busted engine and is managing forty miles per hour, let me add that it is one of three that broke off a while ago. If this ship was running at one hundred percent efficiency it would fly circles around you and anyone on this planet."

"Pff just sounds like more lies proof or nothing you say is true."

"Oh really watch this."

John connected his personal device to the ship, he pressed a button and a screen came down over his head. There was only static at first then there was a ship different looking from John's it floated in space but soon started to make a sound, a few seconds later it flashed in a white light into the void of space making a loud noise Rainbow Dash's eye widened at the speed of the ship.

"That was the first ship I ever flew an old model ship. What you saw it do is called jumping into hyperspace, in there it travels three times the speed of light, so hows about you stop acting like you're on my ship's level."

Al and John both put their fists together without looking at each, but john turned to him confused.

"How the hell did that happen?"

"I don't know, but well said sir."

"Huh, anyway out of my seat, I'm done here."

Al regrettably flew off the seat and let John sit down, he took control and continued to fly. Some time had passed the girls were conversing amongst themselves while John and Al talked to each other. They soon saw their destination in the distance John saw a group of houses over the large amount of trees, he turned to tell the girls.

"Hey, I see the village."

Twilight approached John and watched, she pointed to a clearing in the trees. "You should land there, we don't want to cause a panic in Ponyville with this ship."

"I'm not the type to hide, I think we should just land in the middle of town, sure they'll just freak out, but only for a bit."

"Sir the direct approach is reckless, but then again, we are all civilized sentient beings are we not?"

"Exactly, we'll just step out and explain our situation and once that happens I think they'll understand."

"But, but!"

"Nope, the decision is final."

The ship entered Ponyville. It did indeed start a panic, many ponies fled from the flying ship running to their homes. The ship soon reached a clear area in Ponyville, for such a big ship it fit tightly in the open area. The ship's bottom opened to reveal a descending ramp. As it descended it made contact with a water fountain, it was crushed a few seconds after contact.

"Eh heh oh well, it looked crappy anyway, lets do this."

As John began to walk to the exit of the ship he was stopped by Al. "Sir when we step out let me do the talking I believe I am more suitable for the task than you."

"What the hell is wrong with me talking?"

"You are crude and uncivilized."

With obvious sarcasm in his voice John responded "Don't sugarcoat it Al, just to spare my feelings. Yeah whatever you can do the goddamn talking."

"Thank you, I am relieved you see it my way."

John and Al walked out of the cockpit and exited the ship through the ramp. Many ponies who did not run away looked in horror and curiosity at the creatures stepping out, Allegiance floated ahead and spoke.

"Greetings citizens of Equestria, I am Al and this is Johnathan we come in-."

Al was interrupted by five pegasi in golden armor, they surrounded John and Allegiance.

"...Peace."

John spoke and he put his hands up. "Hey listen guys we jus-"

One of the guards spoke up "Silence monster!"

He whispered to Al. "Al stay high in the air I don't think they're here to talk, tell me which ones come first from behind."

"Don't injure any of them sir, we don't want anymore problems on our hands."

"I got ya, no deadly force."

One of the guards lashed out from behind John.

"One from five o'clock!"

John swung his right elbow out and it made contact with the guards face it hit the helmet but it was more than enough to send him to the ground the heavy suit proved great for using his arms as a blunt object.

"One from three and two from nine!"

John grabbed the one to his right and tossed him over to the others coming from the right he immediately sent his fist flying behind him as the first guard was getting back up, he was sent back to the ground.

"Another from-!"

A guard flew and grabbed Allegiance he used his weight to bring Allegiance down.

"Al!"

Distracted, two guards took the opportunity to hold John down. The girls ran to him, but were stopped by two other guards.

"Please, you don't understand he's-"

"Stand! Back!." The guard quickly interrupted Twilight's expatiation before she had a chance to start.

The girls stood there as they saw John struggling to free himself, but something began to happen John's eyes began to glow bright yellow, he managed to slip his hand from the guard over him, got up and grabbed him by the neck, picking the guard up then slammed him to the ground. The other guard tried to secure him back to he ground, but was only managed to receive a first to the right of his face. More and more guards showed up from the sky and ground to stop John but were, punched, slammed, or violently thrown out of the way. It seemed as though nothing could stop him from whatever was happening he continued to walk towards Al.

What the girls saw was not the John they became acquainted with, it was the John they saw kill the manticores. John was making his way to the guard holding Al, intimidated, the guard tried to fly away but was caught by the tail and slammed to the ground. John walked over him, his eyes now flaring with yellow light, and threw both his arms in the air and threw them down on the guard, but was stopped by a blue aura, John was flung away from the guard and pinned onto the ground. The ponies looked, and it was none other then Princess Celestia holding him down.

**Hey guys hows it going? Good that's nice to hear, say hello to the misses for me. Another chapter done. When I was writing the last bits where John goes all berserker on the guards I was thinking "John smash?" Anywhore! I'll go more into detail about that next chapter, because I luvs to write about John's past! Now I'm off, cya.**

**HcHaiku.**


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